Iran's Ministry of Intelligence accused France of running a wartime infiltration scheme through two diplomats present at a secret meeting, in a statement carried by Tasnim News Agency on 15 August1. Tasnim is aligned with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and the accusation rests on the ministry's word as relayed by that wire. No diplomat has been named, no meeting has been dated, and the ministry has published no evidence.
The ministry is Iran's civilian intelligence service, distinct from the IRGC's own intelligence arm, and an accusation issued in its name against a permanent member of the UN Security Council normally carries a procedural tail: a summons, an expulsion, a formal denial. It also lands on a state with an active wartime espionage docket. Omid Behzad and Pouria Safvat were hanged at Urmia on 3 August on charges of spying for Mossad, in cases Hengaw says rested on confessions reportedly taken under torture. What follows the French accusation is the part worth watching, because the instrument Tehran reaches for will say whether this was aimed at Paris or at an audience at home.
