PARIS: Iran announced Thursday the closure of a Tehran-based French research institute in protest against cartoons of the Islamic republic’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei published by French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.
The magazine printed the caricatures as part of a special edition to mark the anniversary of the deadly 2015 attack on its Paris office which left 12 people dead, including some of its best-known cartoonists.
“The ministry is ending the activities of the French Institute for Research in Iran (IFRI) as a first step,” the Iranian foreign ministry said in a statement, a day after Tehran had warned Paris of consequences.
The French government must hold responsible “the authors of such hatred”, it added, also calling for “a serious fight against anti-Islamism and Islamophobia” in France.
IFRI, affiliated with the French foreign ministry, is a historical and archeological institute founded in 1983 after the merger of the French Archaeological Delegation in Iran and the French Institute of Iranology in Tehran.
Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre said in a statement that Paris can’t verify the Iranian statement, but called it “clearly regrettable if confirmed”.
“We haven’t received any official information at this point concerning the Iranian authorities’ reported announcements on the closure of the French Institute for Research in Iran,” said Legendre, calling it “a major centre of culture and exchange”.
Located in the centre of Tehran, IFRI had been closed for many years but was reopened under the 2013-2021.
Charlie Hebdo’s latest issue contained a variety of images depicting Khamenei and fellow clerics. Other cartoons pointed to the authorities’ use of capital punishment as a tactic to quell the protests.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian tweeted that “the insulting and indecent act of a French publication in publishing cartoons against the religious and political authority will not go without an effective and decisive response”.
Iran’s foreign ministry also summoned French ambassador Nicolas Roche on Wednesday.
“France has no right to insult the sanctities of other Muslim countries and nations under the pretext of freedom of expression,” foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said.
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