France has summoned Iran's ambassador in Paris and vowed to take "appropriate measures" after Iranian authorities shut down a French-language cultural centre affiliated with the French embassy in Tehran. The closure, announced by Iran on Sunday, marks the latest escalation in a prolonged diplomatic dispute between the two countries.

Iran's judiciary, through its Mizan news website, said the French Language Centre (CLF) had been closed on the orders of the Tehran prosecutor's office. Authorities accused the centre of conducting "illegal acts that violated diplomatic conventions," alleging it had "abused its status as a language training facility" to "identify and build networks among the country's elite figures while facilitating their departure." The CLF had operated in Tehran for years as a venue for French-language instruction and broader cultural exchange.

Paris rejected the justification outright. French Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavreux described the closure as a "new attack against France's cultural presence in Iran," calling it "unjustifiable and unacceptable." The ministry said the summoning of Iran's ambassador was requested directly by Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, and that further steps would follow.

The incident is the latest in a series of confrontations between the two governments. Last July, two French embassy staff members were physically assaulted in Tehran. More recently, Iran briefly detained two French diplomats, accusing them of interference in internal affairs during a national security investigation, before releasing them to the French ambassador. France subsequently expelled two Iranian diplomats in retaliation — a move Tehran condemned as "illegal."

The deteriorating relationship reflects wider tensions between Iran and several Western governments over issues ranging from nuclear diplomacy to accusations of state-sponsored interference abroad. For France, the closure of the CLF represents not just a bilateral irritant but a symbolic blow to its longstanding tradition of cultural diplomacy — a network of language and cultural centres that Paris maintains across the globe as instruments of soft power and public engagement.