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Washington Post: Hungary’s Szijjártó offered intelligence cooperation to Iran after pager attacks
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Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó offered intelligence cooperation to Iran after the mass pager explosions linked to Hezbollah in September 2024, according to the Washington Post, which says it reviewed a leaked phone transcript authenticated by Western intelligence. The report has triggered renewed scrutiny of Budapest’s balancing act between close ties with Israel, working channels with Russia, and pragmatic contacts across the Middle East — at a moment when Hungary is also cultivating political goodwill in Washington.
Szijjártó, for his part, has framed the outreach as a security necessity. In a Facebook statement cited in the same Hungarian-language summary you provided, he said he spoke to his Iranian counterpart in 2024 to counter what he called false claims that Hungary had any role in the attacks, and argued the fast diplomatic and intelligence contacts helped prevent Hungary from becoming a target of terrorism.
What the Washington Post says the leaked transcript shows
According to the Washington Post’s account, Szijjártó told Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, that Hungarian intelligence services had contacted Iranian counterparts and would share all relevant information gathered during the investigation.
The Post presents this as an unusual form of cooperation given Iran’s relationship with Hezbollah and its broader geopolitical posture. It also reports that the transcript was authenticated by Western intelligence, though the article’s full details and context are not public in the text provided here.
Why Hungary entered the story in the first place
The Washington Post links Hungary to the controversy because the devices reportedly bore a Taiwanese brand, and a Hungarian company may have been involved via a licensing arrangement. In the reported phone call, Szijjártó insisted that Hungary was not involved in any way and that the devices were not manufactured in Hungary.
That denial is central to Budapest’s line: Hungary positions itself as a bystander caught up in a fast-moving international incident — while simultaneously attempting to contain any security or diplomatic fallout.
Hungary’s declared pro-Israel stance and the Iran contradiction
For international readers, the political sensitivity is straightforward. Hungary has, in recent years, cultivated a reputation as one of Israel’s most consistent supporters in Europe, often aligning itself rhetorically and diplomatically with Israeli positions.
Against that backdrop, an offer to share intelligence with Iran — a state widely seen as hostile to Israel and a key backer of Hezbollah — is bound to raise questions about where Hungary draws the line between crisis management and strategic alignment.
The Washington Post frames the episode as “awkward” or politically uncomfortable precisely because it appears to run counter to Hungary’s stated pro-Israel orientation.
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Why this could matter for US–Israel dynamics and Hungary’s US ties
The United States and Israel have long been close allies in security and foreign policy terms. Hungary, meanwhile, has been eager to position itself as a reliable partner to Washington — particularly to US conservatives — and to strengthen its role as a US-aligned actor inside the EU.
That is why the key issue is not simply whether Hungary spoke to Iran, but whether any such engagement was coordinated with allies.
If allies were not informed, trust can take a hit
Even where countries maintain limited channels with adversarial states, alliance politics usually runs on predictability and consultation. If an intelligence-sharing offer to Iran was made without prior alignment with key partners — above all the United States and Israel — it could be interpreted as a breach of political trust.
This does not automatically mean an open rupture. But it can create the kind of friction that complicates cooperation: allies may become more cautious in sharing sensitive information, and political relationships can cool if partners feel blindsided.
The counter-argument: crisis management and deterrence
Szijjártó’s defence points in the opposite direction: that the purpose was to prevent retaliatory threats against Hungary and to stop misinformation from escalating into a security risk. Under that framing, the outreach is cast as defensive — intended to signal non-involvement and reduce the chance that Hungary becomes a target.
As we wrote earlier, Hungary troops withdraw from Iraq as tensions in the region escalate even more
Fidesz is an enemy of the free world. Every friend they do business with and assist are all enemies of the Western Alliance. Fidesz is the right hand of Russia inside the West.
No, Dear Larry, Fidesz is the enemy of no one.
What they are, however, is in pursuit, if, albeit, imperfectly, of the interests of the Hungarian People.
‘Tis they to whom they, Fidesz, are beholden.
Fidesz has long pursued a foreign policy that presents close dealings with Russia, China, and Iran as pragmatic diplomacy in Hungary’s national interest, often under the banner of “peace,” “sovereignty,” and protecting Hungarian families.
Critics, however, argue that these relationships go far beyond ordinary statecraft, pointing to political messaging, energy dependence, opaque investment deals, and repeated efforts to soften or obstruct common European positions toward authoritarian regimes.
Fidesz does not merely keep channels open with Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran, but has increasingly treated them as strategic partners whose influence is normalized in Hungarian political life, even when this puts Hungary at odds with many of its EU and NATO allies.
“The Endgame for Hungary: Disinformation, AI, Prohibited Ads….” (European Digital Media Observatory ). ” In the month after the ad ban came into effect they spent at least 24 million HUF (62 thousand EUR) on political advertisement.”
Ah, the Washington Compost. Must be true!
Funny how all this stuff is coming out oh-so suddenly on the even of the election.
Tomorrow’s scoop, probably by C.N.N.: “Government-close” associate told his parrot he’d love to see Russian troops on the streets of Budapest. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Hungary is Israel’s hands-down closest, strongest, and most trusted ally in Europe. You’d have to have potatoes growing out of your ears to believe this bulls…
You said it just before I said it, Dear Michael.
The Washington Post is as reliable as Pinocchio!; – all part of the same network of International Bankers, as are many Hungarian ‘pollsters’ such as Zavecz or Medián, or ‘media outlets’, like Reuters and Bloomberg’.
@Mouton – more conspiracy rhetoric? Shocker!
Disagreeing is fine, but calling everything you dislike part of an international bankers’ network, “Soros!” or Western Elites is not evidence.
If these outlets or pollsters got something wrong, point to the specific error and back it up with reliable sources. Otherwise – well. Conspiracy theories, for a change?
@Norbert – it certainly is no surprise that everything which is not your view is regarded by you as a ‘conspiracy’.
As to reliable sources : you repeatedly post findings by pollsters who were 8, 10, 12, 15, and 20 points off the actual result in the Hungarian Election of 2022, yet, it does not trouble you.
All that information is readily available at Wikipedia.
As to Bloomberg and Reuters : if I began to list all the fallacies they had printed in my lifetime, I would never get to the end of it.
@Mouton, first of all … 2022 … You only appeared in the 2026 run up to our elections?
Your arguments are textbook examples of Kremlin information operations. At every opportunity, you try to delegitimize established media, cite specific past errors to dismiss all future facts, and pivot to conspiracy theories (“Western Elites!”, “Brussels!” and “International bankers!”).
Pointing out that pollsters struggled in 2022 is valid, but using it to justify a global conspiracy theory only serves to shut down objective debate.
“The Endgame for Hungary: Disinformation, AI, Prohibited Ads….”
(European Digital Media Observatory ).
” In the month after the ad ban came into effect they spent at least 24 million HUF (62 thousand EUR) on political advertisement.” “The Digital Civic Circles movement, an online activist network supporting Fidesz, ran hundreds of ads recruiting new members after Meta’s ban.”
Hurray to anti-hungarian Larry…. you have the Russians running around in your head again, now that the yanks have gone home.
Yes, Dear Owen – our Larry is completely eaten up by an unreasoning hatred of Russia and Russians.
It clouds his judgement on a lot of matters.