France and Iran entered high-level diplomatic talks on Monday after Iranian authorities shut down a French-language centre affiliated with the French embassy in Tehran.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that the closure was carried out following a court ruling.
“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 judiciary’s Mizan news website said.
Iranian judicial authorities alleged that the centre had engaged in unlawful activities in violation of diplomatic conventions.
They also accused it of abusing its status as a language-training institution by identifying and cultivating networks among prominent Iranians and helping them leave the country.
France denounces an “intrusion”
France strongly condemned the closure and the actions of Iranian security forces.
“France condemns in the strongest possible terms the intrusion by Iranian security forces into the premises of the French Language Centre in Tehran, as well as the announcement by the Iranian authorities of the centre’s closure,” the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux described the move as the latest attack on France’s cultural presence in Iran, following the alleged assault of two French embassy employees last July.
Iran’s ambassador to France, Mohammad Amin-Nejad, was scheduled to meet senior French Foreign Ministry officials on Monday to explain Tehran’s decision.
The centre, which has operated in Tehran for more than 20 years, is one of Iran’s leading French-language teaching institutions. It offers French courses, administers examinations and maintains a media library.
The closure comes as relations between France and Iran remain under significant strain.
In July, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot accused Iranian authorities of holding two French diplomats for several hours without justification, saying one of them was assaulted.
Iran rejected the allegations as misleading and accused France of interfering in its internal affairs under the pretext of engaging with civil society.
Tehran subsequently barred the two diplomats from continuing their work in Iran.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaïl Baghaei said the diplomats had violated the Vienna Convention, which governs diplomatic privileges and the conduct of foreign missions, by supporting Iranian civil society groups.
“Insisting that these individuals were engaged in activities related to supporting civil society is itself an admission that the Vienna Convention was violated,” Baghaei said.
France responded by expelling two diplomats from Iran’s embassy in Paris.
High-level meetings in New York
This week, Barrot and his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, also traded criticism on social media over Iran’s human rights record and France’s colonial history.
The two foreign ministers are scheduled to meet on Tuesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
French President Emmanuel Macron is also expected to meet Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during the annual gathering.
