Iran calls out France's diplomatic abuses, rejects fabricated allegations

Iran has rejected as "baseless" and "false" a claim by France's foreign minister that two French embassy employees in Tehran had been intimidated, and said France should instead answer for the "interventionist" conduct of its diplomats in Iran.

The exchange follows is over an incident involving two French diplomatic staff in the Iranian capital. France has said the two diplomats were briefly detained and mistreated while carrying out cultural outreach duties, while Iran says they were found attending a meeting with individuals wanted on security-related charges before being released to the French embassy.

Mohammad Tanhaei, head of the Second Western Europe Department at Iran's Foreign Ministry, said reports from the relevant Iranian authorities showed that two French nationals attended a meeting on Sunday evening with several security suspects who were being pursued by Iranian authorities.

According to Tanhaei, the two individuals were questioned for a short time by Iranian security personnel after attending the meeting. He said multiple documents indicating "anti-security activities" were found at the location and that the relevant authorities were examining them.

Tanhaei rejected the French foreign minister's "false" allegation that the two individuals had been beaten.

He said that once law enforcement officers learned the pair were affiliated with the French embassy in Tehran, they transferred them to the diplomatic police headquarters and, after coordinating with the Foreign Ministry and allowing them to contact the French ambassador, handed them over to the embassy.

He said the conduct of the two French embassy employees violated the laws of the host state and the provisions of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

Rather than making a "forward escape," France's foreign minister should answer for the conduct of the two embassy employees, Tanhaei said.

Tanhaei also said the French foreign minister's statement that the two employees had been working to assist "civil society" amounted to an acknowledgment of France's interventionist conduct in Iran and was inconsistent with the normal functions of a diplomatic mission.

He said France should explain under which international treaty governing diplomatic and consular relations assistance to the "civil society" of the receiving state was compatible with diplomatic duties.

"The French government should not pursue interventionist behavior in Iran and should regulate its policies toward Iran in accordance with the customary rules governing relations between states," Tanhaei said.

Iran FM protests ‘unacceptable’ conduct of French diplomats in Tehran

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has protested the "unconventional" conduct of the two French diplomats in Tehran during a phone conversation with his French counterpart.

On Monday night, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in a statement that two French diplomats in Tehran had been detained and mistreated. He said the diplomats were responsible for maintaining cultural ties with the Iranian people and Iranian scientists.

France's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned Iran's charge d'affaires in Paris over the incident.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, in a telephone conversation with his French counterpart on Tuesday, protested the "unconventional" conduct of two French diplomats in Tehran, calling their actions unacceptable.

Araqchi said compliance with the laws and regulations of the host country and adherence to recognized diplomatic principles and norms are essential for the continued operation of foreign diplomatic missions, according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

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