What we know about the arrest of a man at the Iranian consulate in Paris

The investigations, entrusted to the judicial police, must make it possible to understand the intention behind the suspect.

The investigations will have to clarify his intentions. An Iranian national was taken into police custody on Friday April 19 after being arrested around the Iranian consulate, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. He entered the building wearing a fake vest depicting explosives. An investigation has been opened for death threats, franceinfo learned from the Paris prosecutor’s office. Franceinfo summarizes what we know about this affair.

Threats to take action, but no explosive material found

The man taken into custody was arrested early Friday afternoon. He was leaving the Iranian consulate, located rue Fesnel, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, “in which he allegedly uttered threats of violent action”, announced the Paris prosecutor’s office.

“The man came out on his own and no explosive material was observed at this stage, neither on him nor on site”, said the prosecution. No explosives found “neither in the premises of the consulate, nor in the vehicle” of the suspect, confirmed the Paris Police Prefecture for its part, after the intervention of the Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI), an elite police unit.

Therefore, the investigation is opened for “death threat materialized by wearing a fake vest representing explosives”. The investigations, entrusted to the 1st judicial police district, aim to “objective of verifying whether the constituent elements of the offense are characterized and of understanding the intention which motivated the suspect”according to the prosecution.

A man already known to the courts

According to the first elements communicated by the Paris prosecutor’s office, this man was born in 1963 in Iran. He was sentenced by the Paris Criminal Court for immediate appearance in October 2023, to a sentence of 8 months’ imprisonment with suspended probation and a ban on appearing in the 16th arrondissement of Paris for 2 years, as well as a ban on carrying a weapon. He appealed this decision, which was therefore not final. He was to be tried on Monday.

He was then accused of setting tires on fire in front of the gates of the Iranian embassy on September 9, an act he claimed was in protest against the Iranian regime. He was angry with the Iranian state for the death of his brother, according to our information. He filmed his gesture to transmit it to Iranian media. The fire did not hurt anyone. The consulate and the Iranian embassy share the same building but have different entrances: 4 avenue d’Iena for the embassy and 16 rue Fresnel for the consulate.

Traffic interrupted on certain metro lines

Metro line 6 remained closed between Etoile and La Motte-Picquet Grenelle, and line 9 was interrupted between Franklin-D. Roosevelt and Pont de Sèvres, at the request of the Paris police headquarters. Traffic has resumed very gradually, according to the RATP.

“Intervention in progress on rue Fresnel in Paris16. Avoid the area“, simply mentioned the prefecture on X at 2 p.m. At the beginning of the afternoon, a security perimeter had been set up all around the consulate, near the Trocadéro.