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France slams violence against Iran embassy staff

17 November 2010 01:22 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. France said on Tuesday some of its embassy staff in Tehran were subjected to "unacceptable acts of violence" by unidentified security service staff who hindered embassy access for guests of the French ambassador, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
France’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement the Iranian ambassador to France had been summoned over an incident that happened on November 14.
"Following the incidents, the French authorities summoned Iran’s ambassador in Paris to convey in the strongest possible terms this extreme violation of the Vienna Convention," the French statement said.
Iranian officials were not immediately available to comment.
A diplomatic source in Paris said that a high-ranking French diplomat was struck during an incident, which took place during an evening cultural event to which France’s ambassador had invited Iranian guests, many of them young people.
Unidentified, plain-clothes security staff were involved in an incident where Iranian diplomatic police who are customarily responsible for security around foreign embassies were also present, said the source.
Access to the embassy was closed off for a time in what the source described as "a trap."
The incident could add to strains at a time when Europe is trying to bring Iran back to talks over its disputed nuclear program and is also campaigning to save a woman sentenced to die in Iran.
France has played an active part in Western attempts to avert reported plans to execute Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a woman accused in Iran of adultery and of being complicit in her husband’s murder.