PARIS — France will expel two Iranian diplomats in the coming days, its foreign minister announced, in a direct response to Tehran’s decision to bar two French diplomats from returning to Iran. The move marks a sharp escalation in a diplomatic row that has simmered since last month’s detentions in Tehran.
“Two Iranian diplomats in France will be expelled in the coming days,” Foreign Minister Jean‑Noel Barrot wrote on X, calling the treatment of the French pair “intolerable.” He said they had been briefly detained in Tehran over accusations of “interference,” then questioned for hours in what he described as a “flagrant violation of diplomatic immunity.” One of them, the cultural attaché, was physically abused, Barrot alleged, according to Agency France Press.
Iran’s foreign ministry rejected the claims. It said the French diplomats were only briefly questioned and accused them of “interfering in Iran’s internal affairs under the pretext of engaging with civil society.” Tehran then informed Paris that the two would not be allowed back in the country.
Barrot tied the incident to France’s support for Iranian artists, scientists and researchers, saying that was why the diplomats were “scandalously and deliberately attacked” on July 19. Iran’s intelligence ministry, meanwhile, said an initial investigation showed the French pair were “planning and designing a vast scheme” to exert influence and undermine Iran’s independence.
The dispute widened with reports that two prominent Iranian graphic designers, Aria Kasaei, 46, and Elly Naghilou, 36, were arrested on the same day during a meeting with the French diplomats at Kasaei’s home in Tehran. Supporters said the designers were working on the visual identity for a cultural project, Villa Zadig, and have been held ever since. They called for independent legal access and guarantees for the pair’s safety and fundamental rights, urging Paris to “fully establish the circumstances of these arrests” and press for their release.
Barrot did not mention the designers’ detention in his announcement. Rights groups say the case fits a broader crackdown on civil society following January’s protests and the subsequent US‑Israeli war against Iran.
