Tehran bans 2 French embassy employees from returning to Iran

Two French embassy employees involved in a diplomatic dispute last month will not be allowed to return to Iran, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday.

According to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, Esmaeil Baqaei told reporters that the pair had violated the 1961 Vienna Convention, which lays out the rules and privileges of foreign diplomatic missions.

Baqaei said that France’s admission that the two individuals were “engaged in activities related to supporting civil ​society” was itself an admission that “the Vienna Convention ​was violated.”