Insulting Move by French City Mayor Draws Iran’s Condemnation
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An Iranian Foreign Ministry official denounced an offensive move by the mayor of a French city.
Majid Nili, the director general for Western Europe at the Iranian Foreign Ministry, emphasized the need to respect the cultural and religious values of countries.
He stated that using offensive content against officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran is a clear violation of internationally accepted principles and rules that mandate respect for the cultural values of other nations and constitutes a blatant act of hate speech.
Nili noted that Iran has formally communicated its protest to France through diplomatic channels and called for appropriate measures from the French government to prevent the recurrence of such provocative actions, the website of the Foreign Ministry reported.
In a recent move, the city of Beziers in southern France ran a campaign on buses, using insulting portraits of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution.
On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron accused Iran of prosing the main strategic and security challenge for France, the Europeans, the entire region, and beyond, citing the acceleration of the country’s nuclear program and its alleged support for Russia's war against Ukraine.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei on Tuesday strongly rejected the French president’s allegations as “baseless and contradictory.”
It is regrettable that instead of the apartheid regime of Israel, whose leaders are wanted by the International Criminal Court, the French president incriminates Iran, which has always respected international law, Baqaei said.
