Iran closes French language centre in Tehran for ‘illegal acts’

The French language centre, linked to the Iranian embassy in Tehran, has been shut down by authorities. The Iranian judiciary cited the centre's alleged involvement in illegal activities as the reason for its closure. The centre, operating under the guise of offering language instruction for years, was accused of breaching diplomatic conventions.

The judiciary's Mizan news website reported that the centre allegedly exploited its status as a language training facility to identify and network with Iran's elite figures, facilitating their departure from the country. No comment was made by the French embassy regarding the closure. Tensions between Tehran and Paris have been high recently, with France expelling two Iranian diplomats last month in response to the arrest and subsequent banning of two French envoys from Iran. Tehran had accused the French diplomats of interfering in Iran's internal affairs.