The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the French ambassador in Tehran, Pierre Cochard, for consultations this Monday to convey to the French Government its demand that it cease what it considers interference in the internal affairs of the country, after Paris denounced the detention and interrogation of two employees of its Embassy "for hours".
"The French ambassador was summoned the day before and we emphasized that France must cease such actions and interventions under misleading pretexts," declared the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baqaei, at a press conference.
The representative of the Ministry stressed that, in the opinion of Tehran, this type of action by French personnel "has precedents." "Who must apologize to Iran is France because under the cover of the diplomatic mission and the Embassy it has carried out actions that are not justified at all according to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961," he reproached.
Baqaei insisted that, "under misleading pretexts" such as the defense of Human Rights or support for civil society, French representatives "interfere in the internal affairs of Iran." "We have made our position clear," added the spokesman, according to information released by the official agency IRNA.
The diplomatic clash occurs after the French Foreign Minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, made public last Monday that two members of the diplomatic staff had been detained and interrogated for hours by Iranian security services, and that one of them had allegedly suffered a physical assault.
"On Sunday night, two officials from the French Embassy in Iran were the target of an extremely serious act of intimidation by Iranian security services, in flagrant violation of the diplomatic immunities they enjoy," he denounced on social media.
Barrot specified that both diplomats are linked to programs supporting civil society, specifically to Iranian artists and scientists. "I have informed the Iranian Foreign Minister that this very serious and unacceptable affront to the integrity of our officials will not go unanswered," he warned.
In response to these facts, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Iranian chargé d'affaires in Paris to present him with a formal protest. "This constitutes a flagrant violation of International Law and the Vienna Conventions, of which Iran is a part, that guarantee the security of diplomatic personnel and constitute the basis of relations between States," emphasized French diplomacy.