French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot on Monday denounced an "extremely serious act of intimidation" committed Sunday evening by Iranian security services against two agents of the French embassy in Tehran, one of whom was physically mistreated.
The two diplomats were "detained without reason for several hours, interrogated, and, in one case, physically assaulted," before being allowed to return to the French embassy, according to a statement sent to AFP by Jean-Noël Barrot. They are now "safe" there, awaiting their return to France "within the next few hours."
The French foreign minister denounced a "flagrant violation of the diplomatic immunities" enjoyed by these agents. He emphasized that the incident was "all the more shocking" given that the two men were responsible for programs supporting Iranian civil society, particularly the country's artists and scientists.
Barrot indicated that he had warned his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, that this "extremely serious and unacceptable attack on the integrity" of the French agents "cannot go unpunished." The minister expressed his "support and full solidarity" with the two diplomats.
This incident comes amid extreme tensions. For nine consecutive days, Iran has faced unprecedented US airstrikes since the April ceasefire, and Tehran declared on Monday that it was in a state of "total war" with the United States . Last week, Barrot also reiterated from Iceland that no lifting of European sanctions would be considered until Iran renounced its nuclear program and its destabilizing actions in the region.
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