Tehran: An ultraconservative Iranian newspaper called Tuesday for the expulsion of French diplomats from the country, accusing France of expelling an Iranian diplomat on the basis of a “ludicrous accusation”. The Kayhan daily demanded that the Iranian foreign ministry reciprocate “the insolent and vile behaviour of France in accusing and expelling our diplomat from its soil.”
The newspaper, considered to be the mouthpiece of ultraconservatives in Iran, reported in October that an Iranian diplomat had been expelled by France without saying why. Neither the Iranian nor the French foreign ministries have denied or confirmed the report. On Tuesday the paper reported in a front-page article that the diplomat had been expelled on the basis of the “ludicrous accusation of attempting to attack a meeting of the terrorist cult of hypocrites in Paris.” It was referring to the People’s Mujahedin Organisation, an opposition group in exile that aims to overthrow the Islamic republic in Iran.
