News

A Spanish consular official was detained for four hours in Tehran yesterday, prompting protests from Spain’s government.

The incident was “very grave” and “unacceptable,” Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez told reporters in Madrid today in televised comments. Ignacio Perez Cambra, the embassy official responsible for consular affairs, was detained and released without charges, said a ministry official who declined to be named in line with policy.

Spain summoned the Iranian ambassador in Madrid and has sent a note of verbal protest to the Iranian authorities, the official said. High-level visits between the two countries have been frozen, Jimenez told reporters.