France to summon Iran envoy after language centre closure in Tehran

Iran accuses the French language centre of conducting ‘illegal acts that violated diplomatic conventions’.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has requested that Iran's ambassador in Paris be summoned [File: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters]

France will summon Iran’s ambassador and take “appropriate measures” after Iranian authorities closed a French-language centre linked to its embassy in Tehran, according to the French Foreign Ministry.

“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,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavreux said in a statement on Sunday.

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Iran announced on Sunday the closure of the centre it accused of conducting “illegal acts that violated diplomatic conventions”.

“Based on the Tehran prosecutor’s office, the illegal centre affiliated with the French embassy in Tehran, which has operated for years under the guise of language instruction, was closed,” the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news website said, referring to the French Language Centre (CLF).

It said the centre “abused its status as a language training facility” and sought to “identify and build networks among the country’s elite figures while facilitating their departure”.

The French Foreign Ministry said it would “take appropriate measures to respond” and would summon Iran’s ambassador in Paris at the request of French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot.

Relations between Tehran and Paris have been strained in recent months.

In August, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry said it detained two French diplomats over alleged foreign interference during a national security investigation before handing them over to the French ambassador.

伊朗指责该法语中心从事“违反外交惯例的非法行为”。

法国外交部长让-诺埃尔·巴罗特已要求召见伊朗驻巴黎大使。[图片来源：冈萨洛·富恩特斯/路透社]

据法国外交部称，在伊朗当局关闭了与法国驻德黑兰大使馆有关的法语中心后，法国将召见伊朗大使并采取“适当措施”。

“继去年7月法国大使馆两名工作人员遭到袭击之后，此次针对法国在伊朗文化存在的袭击是毫无道理且不可接受的，”外交部发言人帕斯卡尔·孔法弗勒周日在一份声明中表示。

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伊朗周日宣布关闭该中心，并指控该中心从事“违反外交惯例的非法行为”。

伊朗司法部门的米赞新闻网站称：“根据德黑兰检察官办公室的消息，与法国驻德黑兰大使馆有关联的非法中心已被关闭，该中心多年来一直以语言教学为幌子运作。”这里指的是法国语言中心（CLF）。

声明称，该中心“滥用其作为语言培训机构的地位”，并试图“识别和建立该国精英人士之间的关系网络，同时为他们离开该国提供便利”。

法国外交部表示将“采取适当措施予以回应”，并将应法国外交部长让-诺埃尔·巴罗的要求召见伊朗驻巴黎大使。

近几个月来，德黑兰和巴黎之间的关系一直很紧张。

8 月，伊朗情报部表示，在对伊朗进行国家安全调查期间，以涉嫌外国干涉为由拘留了两名法国外交官，之后将他们移交给法国大使。