The French ambassador to Tehran, Pierre Kochar, was summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry over what he called interference by the French government in the internal affairs of the Islamic Republic, the ministry announced, quoted by Agence France-Presse, after two French diplomats working in the Iranian capital were detained by Iranian authorities last week, BTA reported.
"The French ambassador to Iran was summoned to the Foreign Ministry, where he was told that the French government must cease all its actions and interference in the internal affairs of Iran, carried out under the false pretext of supporting civil society," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghai said at a weekly press conference.
The spokesman described the activities carried out by the two French diplomats as as "absolutely unacceptable".
The task of the two diplomats in Tehran was "to develop programs in support of Iranian civil society, students, artists, to enable them to participate in mobility programs at universities or in residencies for artists, explained French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot on Thursday last week.
He condemned "the extremely serious act of intimidation by the Iranian security services against the two diplomats, one of whom was subjected to harassment".
According to Barrot, the diplomats were unjustly detained for several hours and interrogated because of the missions they were carrying out in support of Iranian civil society.
In connection with the case of the two diplomats, the Iranian chargé d'affaires was summoned to the French Foreign Ministry last Tuesday ministry.
Iranian authorities denied the aggression, saying that the two diplomats were "briefly questioned by security services, then participated in a meeting with other individuals wanted by the authorities".