TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran criticized the French government, saying it has interfered in the country’s internal affairs by “encouraging unrest” after the June 12 presidential elections.

“Iran’s ambassador to Paris has advised French officials to dedicate their time and efforts to managing their country’s economic and political problems instead of interfering in matters that do not concern them,” said a statement issued by the Iranian embassy.
The statement followed a Tuesday meeting in Paris between Iranian envoy Seyed Mehdi Mir-Aboutalebi and the director for North Africa and the Middle East at the French Foreign Office, Patrice Paoli, press tv reported.
“By recounting the ruthless crackdown on public protests against the outcome of the 2007 French presidential elections… he
[Mir-Aboutalebi] stressed that neither France nor any other country is in a position to judge Iran’s elections,” said the statement.
According to the embassy, Mir-Aboutalebi touched on the French government’s “attempts to encourage chaos and unrest in Iran”, after pointing to the importance of “respecting the law and establishing security in democratic systems”.
The statement said that the ambassador had urged Paris not to follow in the footsteps of “certain interfering and notorious states and by doing this earn a bad reputation in Iran and the Middle East”.
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Frederic Desagneaux has commented on the aftermath of Iran’s tenth election, talking of his “great concern with developments in Iran” and calling for “light
[to] be shed on the honesty of the presidential vote”.
“We reasserted our condemnation of the brutal repression of protests that have left many dead,” said Desagneaux.
Tehran blames foreign interference for the violence that ensued after Iran’s June 12 election. Several people have been killed and many others injured in the violence.