Your trusted source

Iran on Thursday shut down a decades-old French research institute in response to cartoons published by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that mocked the country’s ruling clerics, AP reported.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry called the closure of the French Institute for Research in Iran a “first step” in response to the cartoons, which the magazine had billed as a show of support for anti-government demonstrations that have convulsed Iran for nearly four months.

The ministry said it would “seriously pursue the case and take the required measures” to hold France accountable. On Wednesday, Iran summoned the French ambassador to complain about the cartoons.

The shuttered research institute, which is connected to the French Foreign Ministry, was created in 1983 through the merger of an archaeological delegation dating back to the late 19th century and an institute of Iran studies. It includes a library boasting some 49,000 references, including 28,000 books.

On Thursday, there was a heavy security presence around the institute and the nearby French Embassy in central Tehran. Graffiti left on the outer walls — apparently by government supporters — referred to France as “the home of homosexuals” and a “place of blasphemy.”

Charlie Hebdo has a long history of publishing vulgar cartoons mocking Islamists, which critics say are deeply insulting to Muslims. Two French-born al-Qaida extremists attacked the newspaper’s office in 2015, killing 12 cartoonists, and it has been the target of other attacks over the years.

Its latest issue features the winners of a recent cartoon contest in which entrants were asked to draw the most offensive caricatures of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

One of the finalists depicts a turbaned cleric reaching for a hangman’s noose as he drowns in blood, while another shows Khamenei clinging to a giant throne above the raised fists of protesters. Others depict more vulgar and sexually explicit scenes.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian on Wednesday vowed a “decisive and effective response” to the publication of the cartoons, which he said had insulted Iran’s religious and political authorities.