On Wednesday, Iran summoned France’s ambassador to Tehran to express their disapproval of the “insulting” cartoon featured in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that depicted the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, reported by Iranian state media. Iran also decided it will shut down the French embassy’s Institut Français de Recherche en Iran which studies ancient Persian antiquities on Thursday.
The French newspaper had printed numerous caricatures of Khamenei as part of a cartoon competition that was launched recently to assist the anti-authority demonstrations which started in Iran after Mahsa Amini was killed in September while being supervised by the morality police.
Nasser Kanaani, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, told the French envoy on Wednesday that “The Islamic Republic of Iran does not accept insulting its Islamic, religious, and national sanctities and values in any way,” according to state TV.
The French foreign ministry did not offer any comments.
Iran’s religious figures, confronting their most serious lack of authority since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, have blamed its outside enemies for planning the demonstrations against the administration to make the nation unsteady.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian earlier on Wednesday warned that the “offensive and indecent” move would receive a firm response from Tehran.
“We won’t allow the French government to go too far. They’ve definitely chosen the wrong path,” Amirabdollahian tweeted.
Charlie Hebzo magazine stated that in observance of the anniversary of the fatal assault on its Paris office on January 7, 2015, which was caused by radical activists, they printed the cartoon images in a special edition after the magazine had printed illustrations that made fun of the Prophet Muhammad.
The competition was declared to aid the Iranians who are striving to achieve their liberty.
Image Credit: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File
