Embassy Figure No. 2 in Paris, Iran Now Says

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati said Thursday that the man at the center of a diplomatic dispute between Iran and France is the No. 2 official at Iran’s Paris embassy.

The description appeared to confirm French assertions that the man, Wahid Gordji, played a more senior role than his official title of embassy interpreter would indicate.

France broke off diplomatic relations with Iran last Friday after Tehran refused to let Gordji be questioned by a French judge about a series of bombings in Paris last year.

Iranian and French police have been blockading each other’s embassies for several weeks. Iran has demanded that a French diplomat in Tehran, consul Paul Torri, face an Islamic court on charges of spying and black marketeering.

“Mr. Torri, the consul of France in Tehran, and Mr. Gordji, our second man in our embassy in Paris--either both go to court or neither of them,” Velayati said at a Bonn news conference after a day of talks with West German leaders.

In his last public appearance on July 2, Gordji appeared as interpreter for Iran’s charge d’affaires.

Won’t Leave Embassy

He has refused to obey a request from French authorities to leave the embassy.

His name does not appear on the diplomatic list, and France has denied Iran’s assertion that he has diplomatic immunity.

Velayati accused France of supporting terrorists trying to overthrow the Iranian government.

“If the French change their attitude, then everything will be all right,” he said. “They should know that Iran is not a country which will yield to political blackmail.”

He said his talks Thursday with West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher were “constructive and productive.”

Genscher told Velayati that he expected the dispute to be settled in accordance with the Vienna convention on diplomatic practices, and he expressed Bonn’s support for France as a close ally.

Velayati said: “In principle, we support compliance with the Vienna convention. We will respect foreign diplomats as much as they respect Iranian diplomats in foreign countries.”