Hostage-Taking Incident in Paris Condemned

The Foreign Ministry deplored the recent hostage-taking in Paris by an armed suspect who demanded to meet Iran’s ambassador to France.

“Certainly, the hostage-taking in Paris is an inhuman act and Iran condemns it,” the ministry spokesman, Bahram Qassemi, said on Wednesday, Fars News Agency reported.

He added that the Iranian Embassy in Paris stood ready to help if the  French government and police want, “considering the importance of people’s lives and human aspect of the issue”.

Qassemi said that no precise information about the motivation and identity of the suspect who took people hostage in Paris has been released yet.

A four-hour hostage standoff in central Paris on Tuesday ended with police moving in, arresting the armed suspect and freeing the people held in a ground-floor office, France’s interior minister announced late Tuesday.

“All the hostages are safe and sound,” Gerard Collomb said in a brief statement. At least two people had been detained.

Some reports said the armed man, who was believed to be a Moroccan, claimed that he had a bomb in his possession and “wanted to send a message to the Iranian Embassy.”