Iran warns France after Khamenei insulted in new cartoon

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian yesterday warned France following a series of “insulting” cartoons published by controversial satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo depicting the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The French weekly published dozens of cartoons about Khamenei, which it said were part of a competition it launched last month to support anti-government protests in Iran sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September while in the custody of morality police, Reuters reported.

“The insulting and indecent act of a French publication in publishing cartoons against the religious and political authority will not go without an effective and decisive response,” Abdollahian warned.

“We will not allow the French government to go beyond its bounds. They have definitely chosen the wrong path,” he added.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said it had summoned French Ambassador Nicolas Roche.

The cartoons were published in a special issue to mark the anniversary of the 7 January 2015 attack on the magazine’s office.

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