France to expel two staff members from Iranian embassy in Paris
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has announced that two staff members from the Iranian embassy in Paris will be expelled from the country in the near future. He wrote on the social network X on Wednesday that he had previously warned of the consequences of what he described as an “unacceptable” action by Tehran.
According to Le Monde, the French official said the decision to expel the two Iranian diplomats would soon be carried out. In his message, he did not provide further details on the exact timing of the move.
The step came after France’s foreign minister also announced last night Paris’s decision to expel two Iranian diplomats. In the report, this stance was described as following France’s support for the protests of Dey last year.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry responded by declaring two French diplomats at the French embassy in Tehran persona non grata and said they were barred from entering Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi also said days earlier, in response to France’s positions, that Paris should stop what he called lecturing others about “human rights” and international law.
France and Iran have in recent years faced tensions on several occasions over political and diplomatic issues, and reciprocal expulsions of diplomats are considered one of the common tools in diplomatic disputes between countries.
