Vučić's rhetoric in favor of Iran and against the US

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić claims that he does not support any side in the conflict between the United States and Israel with Iran, but believes that it is an attempt to seize power in Tehran.

He compared the military operation to the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 and the overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic's regime in Serbia - which led to that country's international isolation.

According to Vučić, even then, the goal was to change the regime in Serbia and achieve Kosovo's independence.

The US State Department did not respond to Radio Free Europe's request for comment on these statements.

Marko Savkovic, from the non-governmental Center for International and Security Affairs (ISAC) in Belgrade, estimates that, currently, the positions of Belgrade and Washington are quite far apart.

"There is no process that can bring them closer - certainly not Kosovo, not Bosnia, and nothing that is happening in the region," Savkovic tells Radio Free Europe.

He notes that "American interests are clearly elsewhere."

"Maybe Belgrade can wait a bit and follow the European Union's policy for a while," Savkovic adds.

The United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, which responded by striking American military bases in neighboring Persian Gulf countries.

US President Donald Trump said he ordered the operation to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

He said the goal is also to stop Iran's ballistic missile program and end violence against anti-government protesters - thousands of whom have been killed in recent weeks by the authorities' brutal response.

The US and Israeli attacks also killed Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and many other security, military and political officials.

What parallels did Vučić draw?

At the beginning of the US-Israeli operation against Iran, Serbian President Vučić assessed that everything was happening "just like in Serbia."

"They lied to us the whole time that it was a humanitarian catastrophe," Vučić told Informer Television on February 28.

According to him, the purpose of NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 was to change the regime in Belgrade and achieve Kosovo's independence from Serbia, just as it is now "taking power in Iran" and "returning the country to Western values."

"They will completely destroy Khamenei and then make an economic calculation that will benefit the greatest power in the world. In this way, Trump achieves his goals," Vucic declared.

Savkovic says this sounds like a “statement for internal use.”

"Our people are sensitive and whenever there is talk of air campaigns against any country, comparisons with 1999 are inevitable," he says.

NATO intervened in the former Yugoslavia after the crimes of Serbian forces against the Albanian population during the war in Kosovo, which were also proven before the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

After NATO bombing, the Serbian army and police withdrew from Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008 but Belgrade still does not recognize.

The Milosevic regime was overthrown after massive demonstrations by citizens on October 5, 2000.

Saying that Serbia, as a small country, is always the subject of agreements between powers and that "it will always be as the Americans say," Vučić added that it "has yet to start a strategic dialogue with the United States and make important decisions in relation to them."

Savkovic does not believe that Vucic's statements will further complicate relations between Serbia and the US.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced in August that the joint strategic dialogue with Serbia would be held later in 2025, but this did not happen.

Vucic recently admitted that relations with the Trump administration are not developing as Belgrade had hoped and that US President Donald Trump has not invited Serbia to the Gaza Peace Board.

Serbia's relations with Iran

Official Belgrade has friendly relations with Iran and other countries involved in the conflict in the Middle East – primarily with the United Arab Emirates.

“Serbia is always against attacks on civilian targets, regardless of which side they come from and regardless of who is the victim,” Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric said on March 5.

He also previously condemned Iran's attacks on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Gulf countries - the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

In telephone conversations with the diplomatic leaders of these countries, he stated that such attacks undermine regional stability and threaten international security.

In media appearances, Djuric said that Serbia should stand by its partners in principle – without going into broader analyses of the conflict.

And, one of its partners is Iran, which has been under international sanctions for years due to its nuclear program.

"There hasn't been much talk in Belgrade about the nature of the regime in Iran," says Savkovic.

Serbia, in many cases, has not harmonized with European Union decisions on restrictive measures against Iran, whether due to nuclear activities or due to human rights violations.

Iran supports Serbia in opposing Kosovo's independence.

Unlike political cooperation, economic cooperation between the two countries is more modest.

Until yesterday, "Serbian Trump", today support for Iran

The attacks on Iran have also been accompanied by a shift in rhetoric in pro-government tabloids in Serbia, which have been sympathetic to US President Donald Trump.

Recently, they have published headlines such as: "Is Donald Trump falling?!", "The failure of American plans", "Wild bombing, America and Israel are mercilessly burning everything".

"Although tabloids largely shape the way a portion of citizens see the world, I think their influence in determining the direction of politics is very, very limited," Savkovic estimates.

A change in tone has also been seen in the leader of the Serbian Radical Party, Vojislav Seselj, convicted by the Hague Tribunal for war crimes.

In recent years, he has often worn a T-shirt with the image of Donald Trump, but this week he signed the book of condolences for Khamenei's assassination at the Iranian Embassy in Belgrade.

Khamenei in Belgrade in 1989

Ali Khamenei last visited Europe in February 1989, while he was president of Iran.

He visited Bucharest and Belgrade.

During his three-day visit to the capital of the then Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, he met with the president of the Presidency of the SFRY, Raif Dizdarevic.

The then SFRY had friendly relations and economic cooperation with Iran, as part of the Non-Aligned Movement.

A few months after the visit to Belgrade, Ali Khamenei succeeded Ruhollah Khomeini as Ayatollah.

After becoming supreme leader, he never left Iran again.