At the Parliament's gate, centre-right MEPs from Spain, the UK, Italy and Estonia tried unsuccessfully to prevent his entry. Some were holding photos of Neda Agha Soltan, a student killed last year during demonstrations against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election.
Alejo Vidal-Quadras (European People's Party, Spain) said that "the first thing [Mottaki] did" was criticise Israel for Monday's attack on a flotilla defying the naval embargo on the Gaza Strip, which resulted in at least nine deaths (see EurActiv 31/05/10).
"It was a shameful session," Vidal-Quadras said, quoted by DPA.
A German liberal, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, said that Mottaki was blunt "to the point of being offensive, saying the EU did not have a foreign policy".
The Iranian press quotes Mottaki as saying during his speech in Parliament that Iran had invited the EU to engage in relations based on mutual respect.
Many of the elements that have emerged as challenges in relations between Iran and Europe can be turned into opportunities for greater cooperation, he is quoted as saying.
Marietje Schaake (D66, Netherlands), ALDE spokesperson on Iran, said after the speech that the foreign minister had come to Brussels requesting dialogue, but "was only really interested in monologue, refusing to answer any question related to human rights and sticking blindly to the script that the elections in Iran had been free and fair".
"The qualification of Iran as a democracy, supported by the people, as Minister Mottaki portrayed his country, indicates a grossly misleading picture of the reality we have witnessed since the contested presidential elections," Shaake said.
Isabelle Durant (Greens/EFA group, Belgium) said on a Belgian TV programme that Mottaki's visit to Parliament gave MEPs a chance to raise questions about the human rights situation in Iran. Entering into contact with Teheran is better than avoiding contact, she claimed.
But Mottaki, speaking on the same programme, said that he would not take lessons from Europe, which had "ideological" views on human rights. A relationship is a two-way street and one side cannot and should not expect to decide for both sides, he said.
In a press release, the S&D group said Schulz had condemned "the unacceptable human rights situation in Iran" and the fact that "Iranian representatives time and again call into doubt Israel's right to exist".
A group of human rights activists protesting against Mottaki's visit were confined to a garden in Place de Luxembourg, where they were far enough away for the Iranian official not to see them.
