Iran Expels 3 Italy Envoys Over Khomeini Lampoon

Iran on Thursday ordered three Italian diplomats to leave the country because an Italian television program mocked the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

The Islamic Republic News Agency said the Foreign Ministry told Italian Ambassador Giuseppe Baldocci that the three diplomats must leave Iran within a week. Baldocci also was ordered to close the Italian cultural center in Tehran.

Two of the Italians were identified in the IRNA report as commercial attache Francisco A. Tandardin and attache Fausto Carotenuto. The third was identified only as Caprino.

The agency, in the reports monitored in Nicosia, also said that Iran was recalling its ambassador to Rome, Gholam Ali Heidari, to protest what it called an insulting program broadcast on Italy’s state-run television network.

Reagan Lampooned, Too

The program, televised Saturday, included a sketch about the U.S. shipments of arms to Iran. It lampooned President Reagan and Khomeini, patriarch of Iran’s Islamic revolution.

The television program showed an actor wearing a white beard and black turban portraying Khomeini in an exchange with an actor in a suit and tie depicting Reagan. Also in the sketch was an actress dressed in a black chador who played Khomeini’s mother.

The host of the show asked “Reagan” if the United States sold arms to Iran. “Yes, it’s part of our disarmament policy to get all the arms out of the White House closet, which is completely full,” the actor replied.

‘They Didn’t Even Fire’

When the actor playing Khomeini was asked if Iran received the arms, he said: “Let’s not start again with the arms, they didn’t even fire.”

An Italian Foreign Ministry official in Rome confirmed that three people at the Italian Embassy in Tehran were ordered to leave. He said there were 15 to 20 people at the embassy. He also confirmed that Iran had recalled its ambassador to Italy.

IRNA quoted Iranian Prime Minister Hussein Moussavi as saying that Iran, “if it so desired,” could easily poke fun at Italians’ religious sensibilities.

“The Islamic Republic will make them regret their shocking behavior toward Iranian Muslims’ sentiments, not by mere words, but through suitable actions,” he said.

No Control Over Network

In Rome, Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Andreotti said, “The Italian government is by law extraneous from the activities of the RAI-TV,” Italy’s state-run television network.

Andreotti added that Italy hoped to make it clear to Iran “that recently the party of the premier was the object of a more piercing polemic than that being protested by the Iranians.”

Enrico Manca, president of RAI-TV, said the network “never intended to offend the political and religious sentiments of Islamic Iran, which it respects with conviction.