Overview
- Iranian prosecutors sealed a French-language centre in Tehran on Sunday, saying the facility operated without the required licence and was closed under a judicial order.
- Tehran accused the centre of abusing its educational cover to build networks, identify elite figures and help skilled Iranians leave the country, and said those actions breached diplomatic conventions and national security rules.
- France rejected the allegations and said it will summon Iran’s ambassador in Paris and take appropriate measures, calling the move an attack on its cultural presence after earlier incidents involving embassy staff.
- The closure follows a summer of rising tensions including arrests and assaults involving French diplomatic personnel and public exchanges between foreign ministers, and comes just days before planned talks at the UN.
- The dispute could further curb cultural and civil-society contacts between Tehran and Paris and risks reciprocal diplomatic steps that would affect Iranians who relied on the centre for language study and mobility.