Iran closes language center in Tehran, France vows response

by Dmytro Hubenko with AFP, Reuters

Paris will summon Iran's ambassador and take appropriate measures in response after Iranian authorities closed a French language center affiliated with its embassy in Tehran, the French Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

"This new attack against France's cultural presence in Iran, following the assault on two staff members of the French embassy last July, is unjustifiable and ​unacceptable," the ministry's spokesperson Pascal Confavreux said in a statement.

What do we know about the center's closure?

Earlier on Sunday, Iranian authorities announced the closure of a French language center in Tehran following a judicial order from the prosecutor's office.

"The illegal center affiliated with the French embassy in Tehran, which has operated for years under the guise of language instruction, was closed," the judiciary's Mizan news website said, referring to the French Language Center (CLF).

The Iranian judiciary accused the center of conducting "illegal acts that violated diplomatic conventions".

It also accused the center of having "abused its status as a language training facility" and of having sought to "identify and build networks among the country's elite figures while facilitating their departure."

Tensions between Paris and Tehran

France has previously dismissed such allegations. The country claims that there has been a pattern of intimidation in recent months as it has sought to increase support for and contact with Iran's civil society following the crackdown on protests at the beginning of this year.

Tensions between Tehran and Paris have been escalating in recent years. Last month, France expelled two Iranian diplomats in response to the brief detention and prohibition of two French envoys to the Islamic Republic. Tehran accused the diplomats of interfering in its internal affairs.

Diplomats said Iran was also upset by a recent social media post from French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot commemorating the fourth anniversary of Mahsa Amini's death, which sparked protests nationwide.

In response, on Friday, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi called the post "crocodile tears" and accused Paris of slaughtering 1.5 million Algerians during Algeria's war of independence.

The two ministers are scheduled to meet on Tuesday at the United Nations' annual gathering of world leaders.

Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah