Iran has allowed two French former detainees, Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, to leave the country, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday. They had been staying in French diplomatic premises in Iran since their release from prison in November.
“Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris are free and en route toward French territory, after three and a half years of detention in Iran,” Macron posted on X. They were expected to arrive in France on Wednesday, Macron’s office said.
The green light for them to leave Iran, long sought by France, signalled how Iran is differentiating between nations, treating some favourably and others as foes, in the context of the war.
Macron has distanced France from the conflict, saying his country wasn’t consulted in advance about the US-Israel strikes and didn’t want the war.
Macron thanked Oman for playing a mediation role in the release of Kohler and Paris. “It’s a relief for us all and obviously for their families,” he wrote.
Macron’s office said the two French nationals left Iran by road “without any special coordination with the US and Israeli forces” operating in the region, as air strikes hit two bridges and a train station in Iran on Tuesday.
Iran’s state-run agency IRNA reported on Tuesday that Iran had reached an agreement with France for the release of both French citizens in exchange for Iranian national Mahdieh Esfandiari.
Tehran has been pressing since last year for the release of Esfandiari, who has been convicted in France on charges of inciting terrorism over comments she made about the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023.
However, Macron’s office denied there was any such agreement about a prisoner swap, stressing that judicial proceedings in France are not over in Esfandiari’s case and that she has appealed her conviction. No details about negotiations with Iran were provided.
Macron was the first Western leader to speak to Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian after the outbreak of the war, with a telephone call on 8 March. Since then, the leaders have spoken again twice on the phone, with Macron urging for the two French nationals to be allowed to return to France as soon as possible.
Iranian authorities freed them from prison in November but didn’t let them leave the country. They’d been held for more than three years in detention on spying charges, which Paris said were unfounded.
French officials said they were then being kept safe at the French Embassy in Tehran.
France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said he talked on the phone with Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris who “expressed their emotion and their joy at soon being reunited with their country and their loved ones,” in a post on X.
They “are definitively FREE,” he wrote, expressing gratitude for France’s ambassador and staff in Tehran who helped them remain safe “under very difficult conditions.”
Kohler and Paris were arrested in May 2022 while visiting Iran. France denounced their detention as “unjustified and unfounded.”
Western nations have accused Iran of using foreign prisoners as bargaining chips, an allegation Tehran rejects.
Additional sources • AP
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