The British ambassador to Iraq, Stephen Hitchen, warned the Netherlands of defeat in the semi-final match of the UEFA Euro 2024 football championship on Wednesday. In a video, the British ambassador said: "A beautiful evening in Baghdad, on the immortal banks of the Tigris, but I have a serious message as an ambassador and diplomat to convey that the Netherlands is a friendly country, and the Dutch people are culturally and religiously close to us historically, but as a historian, there are some things I cannot ignore."
Hitchen, who was speaking while smoking a hookah, added: "For example, in 1667, Dutch naval forces entered British waters and burned the British fleet, a dark day in our history, and we have been thinking about this issue for four centuries."
The video of the British ambassador Stephen Hitchen smoking the hookah in a cafe in the Iraqi capital Baghdad received criticism from social media users.
Hitchen continued: "Tomorrow, I believe there is a chance; my message today to the Dutch people and the Dutch ambassador is that the time for revenge has come."
The England national team is set to face off against the Netherlands on Wednesday evening in a match described as "fiery" in the semi-finals of the current edition of the UEFA European Championship 2024 taking place in Germany.
