The second man at the French embassy in Tehran was intimidated in early October “by individuals who presented themselves as belonging to the Iranian security forces,” according to what a diplomatic source told Agence France-Presse on Tuesday, confirming information reported by Le Point magazine.
The source explained that the Iranian ambassador to France was summoned to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, without specifying the date of the summons.
He added: “He was reminded very firmly that we expect the Iranian authorities to take all necessary measures to ensure the security of our employees and our counterparts, in compliance with their duties under international law and the Vienna Agreements to which Iran is a party, which guarantee the security of diplomatic staff and form the basis of relations between countries.”
No details were provided about the incident, which Le Point reported “apparently ended in violent interrogation.” This incident comes after a previous incident in July that involved two French diplomats working in Tehran, in light of deteriorating relations between the two countries for years.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot then accused the Iranian authorities of having “detained them without reason for several hours,” adding that one of them had been “beaten.” Iran confirmed that the security services “briefly interrogated the two diplomats,” after they participated in “a meeting with a number of people wanted by the authorities.” Tehran denounced French “interventions” under the pretext of communicating with civil society.
In light of intense tension, nervous internal conflicts, and a police warning of the danger of violent clashes, the Israeli parliamentary elections began on Tuesday. This will be the beginning of a long process that may take two months or more to find out the identity of the new government.
There is widespread polarization in the Israeli elections. It is the first general election held since the attack of October 7, 2023, amid a quasi-bilateral competition between the current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is supported by far-right forces, against the former Chief of Staff, Gadi Eisenkot.
Participation rates reached record levels; About 3.3 million Israelis (44.9 percent) cast their votes by 2 p.m. Tel Aviv time, out of more than 7 million people entitled to vote, an increase of 6 percent compared to 2022. The voting percentage in the Israeli army also reached 48 percent by 1 p.m.
In contrast, an atmosphere of incitement and intimidation prevailed against the Arab vote, and Netanyahu published a tweet on “X” entitled “This is an emergency appeal,” in which he called on his supporters from the right to participate massively in confronting the Arab vote, which he estimated was unprecedented, and he saw that “the future of (the Jewish state) is at stake.” Netanyahu's incitement coincided with what Israeli political sources estimated, that the ruling Likud Party is waging the battle in a manner warning that it intends to "not recognize the results of the vote" if they do not do it justice.
The Israeli General Security Service (Shin Bet) fears events similar to the attempt by supporters of US President Donald Trump to storm the Congress building after the results of the presidential elections showed his loss in 2021, and that one of the two camps will claim that the Israeli elections were rigged and attempt to storm the Knesset.
A security official told the Maariv newspaper, “A dangerous scenario that may happen in these elections is for one of the leaders of the two camps to announce that he does not accept the election results and call on the public to take to the streets.”
