Ankara: Iran on Wednesday rejected France's claim that two employees of its embassy in Tehran had been intimidated, calling the accusation 'baseless and incorrect,' according to the state-run IRNA news agency. Mohammad Tanhayi, head of the Second Western Europe Department at Iran's Foreign Ministry, stated that the two French nationals attended a meeting on Sunday evening with several security suspects who were under investigation by Iranian authorities.
According to Anadolu Agency, citing reports from relevant agencies, Tanhayi explained that the two were briefly questioned by security personnel after documents allegedly indicating 'anti-security activities' were found at the location. He mentioned that the documents are still under review by the Iranian authorities and rejected French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot's accusation that the two embassy employees had been physically assaulted.
Tanhayi further clarified that security personnel transferred the individuals to the diplomatic police headquarters immediately after confirming their affiliation with the French Embassy. They were handed over to the embassy after coordination with Iran's Foreign Ministry and after speaking with the French ambassador. He accused the two embassy employees of violating Iranian law and the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
The Iranian official urged France to address what he described as conduct incompatible with diplomatic norms instead of making accusations against Tehran. He criticized Barrot's statement that the two employees had been working to support 'civil society,' arguing that this claim amounted to an admission of French interference in Iran's internal affairs.
Tanhayi called for France to refrain from what he described as 'interventionist behavior' and to conduct its relations with Iran in accordance with established international diplomatic norms. The statement followed a phone discussion between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Barrot, which occurred after France's decision to summon Iran's charge d'affaires over the incident. During the call, Araghchi protested the allegedly 'unconventional actions' of the two French diplomats, while France maintained that the detention and questioning of the embassy employees constituted an 'extremely serious' act of intimidation and demanded an investigation into the incident.