France is threatening diplomatic retaliation against Iran after authorities in Tehran shut down a French language center affiliated with the country's Embassy, opening a new front in an already deteriorating relationship between the two countries.
The French Foreign Ministry said Sunday that Iran's ambassador will be summoned to the Quai d'Orsay at the request of Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot and that Paris will take "appropriate measures" in response to the closure. The ministry also condemned what it described as an intrusion by Iranian security forces into the premises of the Centre de Langue Française, or CLF.
"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.
The French government said the shutdown would affect thousands of Iranians who take French courses at the center each year. Paris did not immediately specify what retaliatory measures it was considering.
Iranian authorities offered a sharply different account. According to Reuters, the country's judiciary said the center was closed under an order from the Tehran prosecutor's office and accused it of operating without the necessary authorization despite repeated warnings.
Iranian officials alleged that the institution had used language instruction as a cover for activities that threatened Iranian culture and national security. The accusations included identifying and developing networks among Iranian elites and helping skilled Iranians leave the country. France has rejected similar allegations and accused Tehran of an escalating campaign of intimidation.
The confrontation comes after months of diplomatic friction, though relations had shown signs of improvement following the release of French nationals detained in Iran and France's decision to distance itself from the U.S. war against Iran. But that opening quickly narrowed.
Two French diplomats were detained and later expelled from Iran this summer. France subsequently expelled two Iranian diplomats in August. Paris said one of its diplomatic personnel had also been physically assaulted during the July confrontation.
The language center dispute is also unfolding against a broader disagreement over France's contacts with Iranian civil society following Tehran's crackdown on protests earlier this year. Tensions intensified further after Barrot posted a message on social media marking the fourth anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman whose September 2022 death in police custody triggered nationwide protests.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded by accusing France of shedding "crocodile tears" over Amini while invoking France's colonial history in Algeria. "Your silence when the U.S. massacred our schoolkids said it all," Araghchi said, referring to a strike in Iran that Tehran has blamed on the United States.
The dispute over the language center also has a precedent. In January 2023, Iran suspended the activities of the French Research Institute in Iran after the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo published cartoons depicting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Despite the increasingly hostile exchanges, diplomatic contacts are expected to continue. Barrot and Araghchi are scheduled to meet Tuesday in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
