Tehran summoned the Dutch ambassador in protest against Amsterdam’s deportation of two Iranian diplomats, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by IRNA on Saturday.
A European government official and a Western intelligence source said on Friday that the expulsions of two Iranian embassy staff occurred up to two months ago.
The Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi did not say when the ministry’s meeting with the Dutch ambassador took place.
He said the deportation of Iranian diplomats was “unfriendly and unconstructive” and said Iran has the right to take reciprocal measures.
“Instead of expelling Iranian diplomats, the Dutch government should explain why it has harbored members of a terrorist organization,” Qasemi said.
The Dutch expulsions came well before Belgium, France and Germany this week detained six people over a plot to bomb an opposition rally on the outskirts of Paris last weekend.
The plotters were planning on targeting a meeting of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) - an umbrella bloc of opposition groups in exile that seek an end to clerical rule in Iran.
The NCRI meeting, which attracted a crowd of thousands, took place on Saturday in Villepinte, just outside Paris, a three-hour drive from Brussels.
US President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani and several former European and Arab ministers attended the meeting.
