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Iran's Intelligence Ministry said Saturday that two French diplomats were briefly detained during a national security investigation into alleged foreign interference before being handed over to the French ambassador, while accusing Paris of running a broad influence operation inside the country.
In a statement, the ministry said intelligence units encountered the two diplomats while carrying out a judicial order to arrest two suspects as part of an investigation into foreign influence and interference.
After verifying the diplomats' identities, authorities notified the Iranian Foreign Ministry before handing them over to the French ambassador to Iran under diplomatic police escort, the ministry said.
According to the ministry's statement, cited by Iran's Tasnim News Agency and the Iran newspaper, "the anonymous soldiers of Imam Zaman", a term Iran's Intelligence Ministry uses to refer to its personnel, became aware of the "illegal presence" of two French diplomats at a covert meeting location while pursuing one of its major foreign influence and interference cases and executing a judicial order to arrest two suspects in that case.
The ministry said the diplomats in question "had an extensive record of violations and conduct contrary to the country's domestic laws and diplomatic obligations."
After their identities were confirmed, the matter was reported to Iran's Foreign Ministry, and the diplomats were then handed over to the French ambassador in the presence of diplomatic police.
The ministry claimed that while it was investigating the suspects and reviewing documents and materials seized from the site without making the matter public, "the French resorted to a media uproar aimed at getting ahead of the story and covering up the established violations that had taken place."
Initial investigations, the ministry said, point to the planning and design of a large-scale project with goals including "influence, foreign interference, and laying the groundwork for French action against the country's independence," carried out through identification, covert communication inside and outside the country, and network-building, conducted with principles of concealment, involving certain individuals of interest to foreign actors.
The ministry said the signature of France's former ambassador to Tehran was found on some of the documents seized as part of what it called this "sinister project."
"The French government must be held accountable for its illegal and interventionist actions and must explain this ill-conceived scheme," the ministry said.
The ministry said it "will not allow its diplomatic guests to engage in illegal interventionist behavior," and warned that if such incidents recur, it would take action befitting "aggressors" against those responsible.
The ministry said the investigation remains underway and that it would release further details later.
No response from the French government or the French Foreign Ministry to these allegations was available at the time of this report.
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