France says two diplomats were detained and intimidated in Iran

France’s foreign minister said two French diplomats in Iran were subjected to what he called an extremely serious act of intimidation by Iranian security services, and said one of them was physically abused.

Jean-Noel Barrot said in a statement that Iranian officials targeted the two diplomats late Sunday in what he called a clear violation of diplomatic immunity. He said both diplomats were detained for several hours without reason and interrogated before returning to the French embassy.

Barrot said the two officials were safe and were expected to return to France within hours. He said the incident was especially shocking because the diplomats worked on French programmes supporting civil society, including Iranian artists and scientists.

Barrot, who was visiting Iceland, said he had told Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi that the incident was serious and unacceptable and could not go without consequences.

The comments came after Barrot said last week that European sanctions on Iran would not be lifted unless Tehran abandoned its nuclear programme and what Paris describes as destabilising activities in the region.

Iran said on Monday that it was fighting a full-scale war with the United States, as Washington expanded strikes across Iran for a ninth consecutive night since a fragile truce collapsed.