There's never an awkward time to snap an Instagram picture -- even during a high-level government meeting.
Perhaps that's what Iranian diplomat Seyed Abbas Araghchi thought when he casually pulled out his smartphone to take a picture of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his deputy William Burns during nuclear negotiations with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Vienna, Austria.
Araghchi posted the picture on his Instagram account on Sunday.
Nariman Gharib, an Iranian researcher based in London, was the first one to notice that the moment Araghchi snapped the picture was actually immortalized in another photograph of the meeting.
برادر عراقچی سر جلسه صحبت با @JohnKerry داره ازش عکس میگیره یواشکی :دی #IranTalksVienna pic.twitter.com/FZs8X90mTo— Nariman Gharib (@ListenToUs) July 14, 2014
Kerry met with Zarif and other Iranian diplomats in Vienna as part of the negotiations on the future of Iran's nuclear program, which have been ongoing since mid-February of 2014.
Despite restrictions on social media in Iran, Iranian leaders seem to like its uses. Before the World Cup, Zarif posted a picture of his visit to Iran's national team training camp on Twitter.
Thrilled to meet our boys on field. Asked them to do their best to secure victory in July, they asked me the same. pic.twitter.com/SDY0qxvarV— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) May 16, 2014
And during the World Cup, Iran's diplomats took a break to watch Iran-Nigeria, and a picture of the group gathered in front of a TV quickly spread online.
Iranian negotiators in Vienna, take a break from the nuclear talks to watch #Iran, #Nigeria game/ via @akramsharifi pic.twitter.com/D2W38PsBkM— Meet Iran (@MeetIran) June 16, 2014
Instagram is one of the last Western social networks still available in Iran. For months, hardliners in the country have been trying to block the photo-sharing site.
Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have long been banned, although several Iranian government officials, including the country's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani, use the social networks regularly. Citizens, on the other hand, are not so fortunate.