According to the Ministry’s official website, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh made the remarks in a statement on Wednesday while reacting to reports by Reuters and some other European media outlets about Assadollah Asadi who is being kept in a jail in Antwerp, Belgium, on false charges.

Referring to the reports as “unfounded,” Khatibzadeh said, the scenario of Asadi’s arrest and his detention was an “unacceptable innovation.”

He added that countries involved in the Asadi’s case are being held accountable for violating the rights of the Iranian diplomat.

Khatibzadeh rejected the claims made by Reuters and certain European media outlets that Asadi had warned Belgian authorities.

Based on the false reports that have been published since October 9, the jailed Iranian diplomat had threatened Belgian officials that unknown groups would try to retaliate if he was found guilty.

Asadi was arrested in Germany in June 2018 on the false charges of being linked to a bomb attack plot in the French capital, Paris, according to a report by Tehran Times.

In October 2018, prosecutors said Germany extradited the Iranian diplomat to Belgium.

Iran regards the detention of Asadi as an unlawful act and a violation of international law and the provisions of the 1961 Vienna Convention, said the spokesman.

He noted that Tehran has already informed authorities of the relevant European governments of its strong protest to the Asadi’s scenario.

Khatibzadeh stressed that Iran reserves the right to respond proportionately to this end.

Commenting on the same issue, Iran’s Embassy in Belgium on Tuesday rejected the “biased” reports by certain Western media about Asadi noting those media outlets are struggling to damage Iran-Europe relations.

Releasing a statement, the Iranian embassy said reports about Asadi, who is illegally incarcerated in Antwerp, were “contorted” and far from reality, Mehr News Agency (MNA) reported.

Noting that Asadi had rejected those allegations and maintained that he never made any threats against Belgium, the embassy statement added, “Any hint at reprisal made by the media is patently absurd and an attempt to take the issue beyond its case limits with the broader aim of instrumentalizing this judicial proceeding in order to implicate the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

It advised Belgian authorities against the media hyperbole that is “aimed at torpedoing Iran-Europe relations.”