French Consul in Tehran Charged With Espionage

The French consul in Tehran has been ordered to appear before the Islamic Revolution Court on charges of “espionage activities against Iran,” Tehran radio reported today.

The state radio, monitored in Nicosia, identified the diplomat as Jean-Paul Torri. The radio said he had been summoned by the court in Tehran’s Evin prison to provide “some explanations.”

In Paris, the French Foreign Ministry said it is preparing a statement.

The Iranian radio report came amid increasingly strained relations between Iran and France. On Monday, Iran attacked a French freighter in the Persian Gulf.

‘Contact With Fugitives’

The Iranian state radio quoted unidentified “informed sources” as saying the French consul has been charged with “acts of espionage against the interests of Iran.”

It said Iranian authorities have also accused him of “contact with fugitive counterrevolutionaries, providing facilities for their activities and their departure from the country, activity in contraband networks and smuggling antiques and foreign exchange out of the country.”

The radio said the French charge d’affaires in Tehran, Pierre La France, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry and handed the summons for Torri.

The radio reported that “a number” of the unidentified counterrevolutionaries have been arrested and that “efforts to identify others continue.” It did not elaborate.

Siege of Paris Embassy

Relations between Iran and France have soured since June 30, when French police ringed the Iranian Embassy in Paris in a hunt for a translator authorities want to question in connection with bombings in the capital last year.

On Monday, Tehran radio denounced the alleged beating of an Iranian diplomat by French customs agents at Geneva airport Saturday as “a savage act.”

Iranian Revolutionary Guards attacked a French freighter, the 21,000-ton Ville d’Anvers, in the Persian Gulf on Monday. Paris branded the attack a “serious affair” and demanded an explanation from Tehran.

France is Iraq’s second major arms supplier after the Soviet Union. Iran and Iraq have been at war since September, 1980.