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APTEHRAN, Iran — Iran's foreign ministry on Tuesday criticized two Iranian diplomats who defected this month in Europe, saying they chose to stay abroad for "personal interests."
The two diplomats have themselves said their decisions were politically motivated and they left their positions because of the government's crackdown on citizens protesting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's 2009 re-election.
The remarks by foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast were Iran's first official confirmation of the defections, which were seen as a new sign of fissures within Iran's establishment.
Farzad Farhangian said he had quit his job as press attache at the Iranian Embassy in Brussels and that he would ask Norway for political asylum. Hossein Alizadeh, the No. 2 man at Iran's mission in Helsinki, said he would seek political asylum in Finland.
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