Iranian authorities have shut down a French language centre linked to the French Embassy in Tehran, accusing it of operating illegally and engaging in activities that threatened Iran’s national security, in the latest escalation of an increasingly bitter diplomatic confrontation between Tehran and Paris.
The Tehran prosecutor’s office said on Sunday that the centre was sealed under a judicial order after allegedly operating for years without the required licence despite repeated warnings.
But Iranian authorities went significantly further than accusing the centre of bureaucratic violations.
According to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, prosecutors accused the organisation of operating under the cover of foreign-language education while identifying individuals, building networks and facilitating the departure of highly skilled Iranians from the country — effectively accusing the French-linked institution of contributing to Iran’s brain drain.
Authorities also alleged that some of its activities ran contrary to Iranian culture and national security. Reuters confirmed the closure and the allegations carried by Tasnim.
The accusations inject another flashpoint into relations between France and Iran, which have already deteriorated sharply in recent months.
In July, two employees of the French Embassy in Tehran became the centre of a major diplomatic dispute after Iranian authorities accused them of improperly supporting Iranian civil society and interfering in the country’s internal affairs.
France gave a sharply different account. Paris said Iranian security forces detained and seriously intimidated the two embassy employees during an incident on July 19 and later accused Tehran of fabricating allegations of foreign interference to justify its actions.
Iran subsequently announced that the two French employees would not be permitted to return to the country. France responded in August by declaring two employees of the Iranian Embassy in Paris persona non grata.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said at the time that the expulsions were a response to what Paris described as an attack on its diplomatic personnel. The French Foreign Ministry accused Iranian security services of violating international protections afforded to embassy staff and said Tehran had manufactured an interference case against them.
The latest closure therefore widens the dispute from diplomats themselves to France’s cultural and educational presence inside Iran.
Cultural ties between the two countries were already badly damaged. France says bilateral cooperation in education, science and culture has fallen considerably in recent years, while Tehran previously ordered the closure of the French Institute for Research in Iran in January 2023.
Sunday’s order applies to the French-affiliated language centre rather than the French Embassy itself. France’s diplomatic mission in Tehran remains open, according to the French Foreign Ministry.
Paris had not announced a fresh retaliatory measure over the language centre closure at the time of publication.
