Iran – Chargé d’affaires at the Iranian Embassy in Paris summoned to the Foreign Ministry (August 30, 2023)

The chargé d’affaires at the Embassy of Iran was summoned to the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs on August 30. On that occasion, France denounced Iran’s placement of seals on the doors of the French Institute for Research in Iran (IFRI) while we were in full compliance with Iran’s unilateral decision to close the institute in January 2023.

Sealing the doors means that France is deprived of access to a collection of highly valuable works amassed over more than a century by generations of French and Iranian researchers. Given the age and value of these works, this action could cause irreversible damage and losses to scientific research.

This attack on one of the oldest symbols of scientific and intellectual cooperation between France and Iran reflects the Iranian authorities’ willingness to escalate the situation. France calls on Iran to reverse this unilateral decision and to remove the seals immediately.