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Iranian Parliament National Security Committee Chairperson Ibrahim Azizi warned France after Paris said it would expel two Iranian diplomats in response to Tehran declaring two French diplomats persona non grata.
“Insistence on this hostile approach will only result against Paris,” Azizi said in a message on social media.
Azizi targeted the French government after it declared two Iranian diplomats “persona non grata.”
He referred to France’s export in the 1980s of blood-clotting products carrying the risk of HIV transmission to several countries, including Iran; the failure of INSTEX, a European mechanism established to maintain trade with Iran after the United States unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear agreement in 2018; and France’s role in restoring United Nations sanctions on Iran in 2025.
“The Iranian people will never forget France’s permanent betrayals, from the contaminated blood scandal to INSTEX’s failures and the abuse of the snapback mechanism,” Azizi said.
“We will not forget, and insistence on this hostile approach will only result against Paris,” he added.
In a written statement Aug. 15, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry said two French diplomats had been caught at a secret meeting place during an investigation related to national security.
The ministry claimed that documents and materials seized at the scene pointed to a comprehensive plan aimed at building influence in Iran and foreign interference.
It also said the signature of France’s former ambassador to Tehran had been found on some of the documents.
In a written statement Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said two diplomats working at France’s Embassy in Tehran had engaged in “activities and illegal conduct that violated international law, especially the 1961 Convention on Diplomatic Relations.”
The ministry announced that the diplomats had been declared persona non grata.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry said it had informed France that the two diplomats would not be allowed to return to Iran.
France said two employees at its Embassy in Tehran were “attacked by Iranian security forces” on July 19 and decided to declare two diplomats working at Iran’s Embassy in Paris persona non grata.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Tuesday that two Iranian diplomats in France would be expelled in the coming days.
He said the move was a response to the “intolerable” treatment of the French diplomats, who were briefly detained last month in Tehran over accusations of “interference.”
Barrot said on July 20 that the pair, one of whom was the cultural attaché, had been targeted the previous night by Iranian officials and detained and questioned for several hours “in flagrant violation of diplomatic immunity.”
He said they had suffered “an extremely serious act of intimidation” by Iran’s security service and that one of them was physically abused.
“It is precisely because France stands shoulder to shoulder with the Iranian people, supporting their artists, scientists and researchers, that two French diplomats were scandalously and deliberately attacked on 19 July,” Barrot said Tuesday.
Iranian authorities have denied any mistreatment, saying the diplomats were only briefly questioned and had “interfered in Iran’s internal affairs under the pretext of engaging with civil society.”
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Iran’s Intelligence Ministry said an initial investigation showed the French diplomats were “planning and designing a vast scheme aimed at exerting influence and engaging in foreign interference” to undermine Iran’s independence.
Supporters of two prominent Iranian graphic designers, Aria Kasaei, 46, and Elly Naghilou, 36, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the two were also arrested July 19 during a meeting with the French diplomats.
They said the meeting was held to discuss a cultural project, Villa Zadig, and that the two designers have been held since then.
Barrot did not refer to the arrests of the two Iranians in his post Tuesday.
The meeting took place at Kasaei’s home in Tehran, and the designers were working on the visual identity for Villa Zadig, their supporters said in a statement.
They called for the two designers to have access to an independent lawyer and for their “safety and fundamental rights to be guaranteed.”
They said that because “two French representatives directly witnessed part of these events,” Paris should “fully establish the circumstances of these arrests” and “take every necessary step to guarantee their rights, safety and release.”
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