According to the Iranian foreign ministry, this is a “first stage” of the Iranian response to the caricatures. Iran had already warned France of a reaction on Wednesday.
Charlie Hebdo published dozens of caricatures of Iran’s top religious and political leader on Wednesday.
The cartoons were chosen from entries for a competition launched in December 2022, as protests in Iran intensified over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. The Iranian-Kurdish woman died following being arrested for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code.
According to its website, IFRI is affiliated with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The institute, located in the center of the Iranian capital Tehran, was closed for years, but was reopened under the presidency of the moderate Hassan Rohani (2013-2021) as a sign of a thaw in relations between France and Iran. IFRI owns, among other things, a rich library, which is used by French language students and Iranian universities.
