War in the Middle East: an official of the French embassy in Tehran victim of an “act of intimidation”

The number 2 of the French embassy in Tehran was the subject at the beginning of October of an “act of intimidation on the part of individuals presenting themselves as belonging to the Iranian security forces,” AFP learned on Tuesday from a diplomatic source, confirming information from Le Point.

The Iranian ambassador to France was in return summoned to the Quai d'Orsay, explained this source without specifying the exact date of the summons. “He was reminded very firmly that we expect the Iranian authorities to take all necessary measures to guarantee the security of our agents and our assets, as they are obliged to do under international law and the Vienna Conventions to which Iran is a party, which guarantee the security of diplomatic personnel and constitute the basis of relations between States,” she added.

“A muscular interrogation”

No details were given on this affair which, according to Le Point, “would have ended in a tough interrogation”. This episode follows a previous incident between the two countries, which have had deleterious relations for several years, having involved two French diplomats stationed in Tehran in July. Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot then accused the Iranian authorities of having “detained them without reason for several hours”, adding that one of them had been “molested”.

Iran had claimed that the diplomats had been “briefly questioned” by the security services, after they had participated in a “meeting with several people wanted by the authorities”. Tehran had denounced French “interferences” “under the pretext of engaging with civil society”. According to relatives, two Iranian graphic designers were arrested after meeting these diplomats for a working meeting devoted to Villa Zadig, a program of residencies and artistic exchanges run by the cultural service of the embassy.

Persistent tensions

Iranian authorities then banned the two diplomats from working in the country. France expelled two diplomats from the Iranian embassy in Paris in retaliation. On September 20, Iranian justice announced the closure of the French Language Center (CLF), linked to the French embassy, ​​for having carried out “illegal activities”. Paris denounced an “unacceptable” decision which calls for “appropriate measures to respond”.