ISLAMABAD: Iran announced Thursday the closure of a Tehran-based French research institute in protest against the satiric cartoons of the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei published by French weekly Charlie Hebdo.
The magazine published the caricatures in a special edition to mark the anniversary of the 2015 attack on its office in Paris which left twelve people dead, including some of its well-known cartoonists.
The Iranian foreign ministry said that Iran is ending the French Institute for Research in Iran (IFRI). The French government must hold responsible the authors of hatred.
IFRI, affiliated with the French foreign ministry is an archeological and historical institute established in 1983 after the merger of the French Institute of Iranology in Tehran and French Archaeological Delegation in Iran.
Anne-Claire Legendre, a Ministry spokeswoman, said that Paris could not verify the Iranian statement, but called it clearly regrettable if confirmed.
She said that the French government did not receive any official information about the matter.
Cartoons point to capital punishment to quell protests
The latest issue of Charlie Hebdo contained several images depicting Khamenei and fellow clerics. Other cartoons pointed to the capital punishment used by authorities as a tactic to quell the protests.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in a tweet that the indecent and insulting act of a French magazine against the political and religious authority will have a decisive and effective response.
