Iran Warns Paris After Publishing Offensive Caricatures of Ayatollah Khamenei

Iran warned Paris on Wednesday it would react after publishing “offensive” caricatures of Iranian leader Ali Khamenei in the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.

The magazine published dozens of caricatures on Wednesday of Iran’s top religious and political leader.

The cartoons were chosen from entries for a competition launched in December 2022, as protests escalated following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. The Iranian-Kurdish woman died after being arrested for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code.

“The insulting and indecent act of a French publication by publishing caricatures against the religious and political authority will not go without a decisive and strong response,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Twitter. “We will not allow the French government to cross borders. She has chosen the wrong path,” the minister added.

Charlie Hebdo announced in December an “international caricature competition” about Khamenei to support Iranians “who are fighting for their freedom”. The weekly published the cartoons in a special edition for the anniversary of the deadly attack on January 7, 2015, at its office in Paris. That terror attack in the name of Al Qaeda was an act of revenge for the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.