Iran mission in South Africa says viral Thai-crew post was humorous, not mocking

Iran’s embassy in South Africa has insisted that a controversial social media post referring to Thai crew members fleeing for their lives in the Strait of Hormuz was intended as humour and was not meant to insult Thai people, after the post triggered strong criticism online.

The backlash followed a post by the Iranian embassy in South Africa about Thai crew from the Mayuree Naree, the Thai-flagged vessel attacked in the Strait of Hormuz on March 11.

The post showed an image linked to the incident together with the caption:

“When you crash the car and are too scared to go home because of your dad … Strait of Hormuz.”

The remark quickly drew anger from many Thai social media users, who saw it as mocking people caught up in a deadly attack.

On March 13, the Iranian embassy in South Africa issued a clarification on X:

The statement said the post had not been intended to insult Thai people and had simply been framed in a humorous way, without regard to the nationality of those shown in the image.

The statement also said that the lives of the three Thai nationals still missing after the ship attack were no less valuable than those of more than 1,500 Iranian civilians killed in military strikes by the United States and Israel.

It added that the point of the original post was to stress the need to respect Iran’s warning about shipping in the area. “The message was clear: do not pass through the Strait of Hormuz without coordinating with us,” the embassy said.