Iraqchi to French Counterpart: Enough with the Crocodile Tears
Iran’s foreign minister criticized France over its human-rights accusations, citing Paris’s colonial history and what he described as silence over the killing of Iranian schoolchildren by the United States.
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Iraqchi condemned French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot’s human-rights criticism of Iran, invoking France’s colonial record in Algeria and accusing Paris of remaining silent over what he described as the killing of Iranian schoolchildren by the United States.
TEHRAN — Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Iraqchi has sharply criticized his French counterpart, Jean-Noël Barrot, after Barrot made what Iranian officials described as allegations concerning Iran’s human-rights record.
In a post on the social media platform X on Saturday, 28 Shahrivar, Iraqchi accused France of failing to acknowledge the full scale of its conduct during Algeria’s war of independence. He wrote that 1.5 million Algerians were killed by France during the conflict, while Paris had officially recorded fewer than one-tenth of that figure and continued to avoid apologizing for its colonial crimes.
“Enough with the crocodile tears, Mr. Barrot,” Iraqchi wrote, addressing the French foreign minister directly.
Iraqchi also criticized what he characterized as France’s silence over the killing of Iranian schoolchildren by the United States. “Your silence when the United States massacred our schoolchildren says it all,” he wrote.
According to Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, Barrot had accused Iran of violating human rights in what the agency described as interventionist remarks. The report did not provide further details of Barrot’s statements or specify the context in which they were made.
The exchange reflects the broader dispute between Tehran and Paris over human-rights criticism. France’s allegations focused on Iran, while Iraqchi’s response shifted attention to France’s colonial history and to what he described as Washington’s responsibility for the deaths of Iranian children. Neither the French government’s position on Iraqchi’s remarks nor further details about the incidents cited in the exchange were included in the supplied report.