Two employees of France’s embassy in Tehran were aggressively harassed and detained by Iranian security forces on Sunday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot confirmed in a Monday X/Twitter post.
Barrot stated that both staff members were detained and interrogated for several hours without reason, with one being physically assaulted in the process.
Dimanche soir deux agents de l’ambassade de France en Iran ont été la cible d’une action d’intimidation extrêmement grave de la part des services de sécurité iraniens, en violation flagrante des immunités diplomatiques dont ils bénéficient.
Détenus sans raison pendant plusieurs…
— Jean-Noël Barrot (@jnbarrot) July 20, 2026
According to Barrot, the employees were eventually allowed to return to the French embassy and are safe, but will be returning to France in the coming hours.
“I informed the Iranian Foreign Minister that this extremely serious and unacceptable violation of the integrity of our agents cannot go without consequences,” Barrot stated.
He decried the incident as “shocking” and a “flagrant violation” of diplomatic immunities and privileges afforded to embassy staff.
This is a developing story.
