Iran calls on the French envoy in diplomatic row about ‘offensive’ Cannes comments

Iran called on the envoy of France in Tehran to protest against “offensive” comments from the French Foreign Minister after an Iranian filmmaker won the first prize at the Cannes film festival.

Iranian director Jaafar Panahi won the prestigious Palme d’Or or for his film it was just an accident On Saturday, a political drama inspired by his time in prison.

After the victory, the French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said that the victory of Panahi “was” a gesture of resistance against the oppression of the Iranian regime “.

This led to a diplomatic row, in which spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Tanhaei called the comments “offensive comments and unfounded allegations”, the state media reported.

During the meeting with the French envoy, Tanhaei mentioned Barrot’s comments “Flagrant interference” in the internal affairs of the country, according to the same report by Iran’s Presstv

He described the congratulatory message as “irresponsible and provocative”, and added that France “had no moral authority at all” to comment on Iran, with reference to what he called the failure of France to support Palestinians in Gaza.

He demanded an official statement from the French government and the envoy said he would pass on the message to Paris.

In recent years, Panahi has been in and out of prison for his pronounced criticism of the Iranian establishment.

He spent seven months of a prison sentence of six years before he was released in February 2023.

Earlier in 2010, he was sentenced to six years for supporting anti-government protests and creating “propaganda against the system”, serving for two months on that occasion.

In addition to his prison sentence, he received a ban of 20 years to make films and travel outside of his own country.

Nevertheless, he filmed that it was just an accident, secretly in Iran.

The film follows five ordinary Iranians while confronting a man they believe they tortured them in prison – characters drawn from conversations that Panahi had with fellow prisoners about “the violence and brutality of the Iranian government”.

During his acceptance speech, he encouraged colleague Iranians to “join forces”.

“Nobody can dare to tell us what kind of clothing we have to wear, what we should do or what we should not do.”

Shortly after the ceremony, his first performance at an international film festival in 15 years, he told reporters that he would return to Tehran.

“As soon as I have finished my work here, I will go back to Iran,” he said reporters in Cannes. “And I will wonder what my next movie will be.”