The Iranian foreign ministry on Monday said it had informed France that the two French diplomats would not be allowed to return to Iran, France24 reported.
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Barrot on July 20 said the pair — one of whom was the cultural attache — had the night before been targeted by Iranian officials, who detained and questioned them over several hours, “in flagrant violation of diplomatic immunity”.
He said they had suffered “an extremely serious act of intimidation” at the hands of Iran’s security service, with one of them 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 on Tuesday.
The Iranian authorities have denied any mistreatment, saying the diplomats had only been briefly questioned and that they had “interfered in Iran’s internal affairs under the pretext of engaging with civil society”.
