Iran Warns France of Consequences of Insulting Leader
TEHRAN – The foreign minister of Iran on Wednesday condemned the French magazine Charlie Hebdo for insulting the Leader of the Islamic Republic, stressing that such an offensive move won’t remain unanswered.
In a post on his Twitter account, Hussein Amir-Abdollahian lashed out at the satirical magazine for launching a competition to produce caricatures of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
The top Iranian diplomat warned that such an insulting and brazen move by the French magazine against the highly-revered religious and political authority will receive a “firm and effective” response.
“We won’t allow the government of France to overstep the mark. They have definitely taken a wrong path. We have already included that magazine in the list of sanctions,” Amir-Abdollahian said.
On December 12, the ministry of foreign affairs of Iran imposed fresh sanctions on dozens of European Union and British officials and entities for their support and instigation of riots in Iran.
The ministry announced sanctions against five institutions, including French weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo, Radio Farda – the Persian-language service of the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and Amsterdam-based and Persian-language Radio Zamaneh.