Iran shut down a French cultural center in Tehran over the publication of cartoons published by a French satirical magazine that were deemed offensive.
The French Research Foundation, which includes a rich library that is used by Persian-speaking Iranian students and academics, was closed by the Islamic Republic for years, but was reopened during the term of the previous President Hassan Rouhani as a sign of warming relations between the two countries.
Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday that it had ended the activities of the French Institute of Research in Iran in response to caricatures of a top cleric and was reevaluating France’s cultural activities in the country….