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France to Ban Abaya Dress in Schools

Education Minister Gabriel Attal - AFP
Education Minister Gabriel Attal - AFP
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France to Ban Abaya Dress in Schools

Education Minister Gabriel Attal - AFP
Education Minister Gabriel Attal - AFP

France will ban children from wearing the abaya, the loose-fitting, full-length robes worn by some Muslim women, in state-run schools, its education minister said on Sunday ahead of the back-to-school season.

In 2004, France banned headscarves in schools and passed a ban on full face veils in public in 2010, angering some in its five million-strong Muslim community.

"I have decided that the abaya could no longer be worn in schools," Education Minister Gabriel Attal said in an interview with TV channel TF1.

"When you walk into a classroom, you shouldn't be able to identify the pupils' religion just by looking at them," he said.

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Iran Tells France to Review ‘Unconstructive’ Approach Ahead of Meeting

Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. (Reuters)
Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. (Reuters)
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Iran Tells France to Review ‘Unconstructive’ Approach Ahead of Meeting

Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. (Reuters)
Iranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. (Reuters)

Iran's foreign ministry called upon Paris to review its "unconstructive" approach, a few days before Tehran is set to hold a new round of talks about its nuclear program with major European countries.

On Monday, Emmanuel Macron said Tehran's uranium enrichment drive is nearing a point of no return and warned that European partners in a moribund 2015 nuclear deal with Iran should consider reimposing sanctions if no progress is reached.

"Untrue claims by a government that has itself refused to fulfil its obligations under the nuclear deal and has played a major role in (Israel's) acquisition of nuclear weapons is deceitful and projective," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei wrote on X on Wednesday.

France, Germany and Britain were co-signatories to the 2015 deal in which Iran agreed to curb enrichment, seen by the West as a disguised effort to develop nuclear-weapons capability, in return for lifting international sanctions.

Iran says it is enriching uranium for peaceful purposes and has stepped up the program since US President-elect Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the 2015 deal during his first term of office and restored tough US sanctions on Tehran.

French, German and British diplomats are set to hold a follow-up meeting with Iranian counterparts on Jan. 13 after one in November held to discuss the possibility of serious negotiations in coming months to defuse tensions with Tehran, as Trump is due to return to the White House on Jan. 20.

Baghaei did not mention French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot's comment regarding three French citizens held in Iran.

Barrot said on Tuesday that future ties and any lifting of sanctions on Iran would depend on their release.