Iran shut down a French cultural center in Tehran over the publication of cartoons published by a French satirical magazine that were deemed offensive.
The French Research Foundation, which includes a rich library that is used by Persian-speaking Iranian students and academics, was closed by the Islamic Republic for years, but was reopened during the term of the previous President Hassan Rouhani as a sign of warming relations between the two countries.
Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday that it had ended the activities of the French Institute of Research in Iran in response to caricatures of a top cleric and was reevaluating France’s cultural activities in the country.
The French ambassador in Tehran, Nicolas Roche, was also summoned by the Islamic Republic on Wednesday after the magazine Charlie Hebdo published dozens of cartoons mocking the Islamic Republic’s head of state Ali Khamenei.
A day later, France Foreign Minster Catherine Colonna said on Thursday that “Iran should look at what is going on at home before criticizing France,” according to Reuters.
Speaking to LCI TV, Colonna said it is Iran that is pursuing bad policies through its violence against its population and the detention of French nationals.
“Let’s remember that in France press freedom exists, contrary to what’s happening in Iran and that this [freedom] is overseen by a judge within the framework of an independent judiciary, which is something that Iran without doubt doesn’t know well,” she said, adding that there were no blasphemy laws in France.
The cartoons, some of which were submitted by Iranian artists, are the result of an open call last month by the magazine for caricatures of Khamenei.
The Islamic Republic has said that the magazine’s aim is to support anti-government protests sparked by the death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, in September while in the custody of morality police.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian vowed a “decisive and effective response” to the publication of the cartoons, which he said had insulted Iran’s religious and political authorities.
Charlie Hebdo has previously been attacked for publishing cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammad. In January 2015, 12 of its staff were shot dead by two gunmen who stormed the magazine’s offices.
