France-Iran deal sees release of two detained French nationals, one Iranian

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Two French nationals held in Iran for nearly three and a half years have been freed and are on their way to Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday. The remarks were followed by reports from Tehran’s state media indicating that an Iranian national detained in France will also be released.

In a statement on X, Macron said that “Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris are free and on their way to French territory after three and a half years of detention in Iran,” describing their release as “a relief for all of us, and of course for their families.”

The French leader also thanked “the Omani authorities for their mediation efforts, as well as the state services and citizens who mobilized tirelessly, contributing to their return.”

Kohler and Paris had been arbitrarily detained in Iran since May 2022. Iranian authorities claimed that the couple were attempting to incite unrest by exploiting the grievances of the Iranian people and released a video of the two confessing to being spies and stating they had entered the country with the intent to provoke dissent.

France in mid-May filed a complaint against Iran with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the couple’s detention.

Macron’s Tuesday statement was followed by a report from the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), which stated that “the two French convicts have left Iranian territory” under “an agreement reached between Tehran and Paris.”

The state-run outlet added that “the French government, in exchange for the release of these two French citizens, committed to fully releasing Ms. Mahdieh Esfandiari and withdrawing its complaint against Iran” at the ICJ.

Mahdieh Esfandiari, a 39-year-old Iranian student based in Lyon, was arrested in France in February 2025 after authorities accused her of expressing support for groups aligned with the Tehran-led ‘Axis of Resistance,’ including Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the Palestinian movement Hamas.

A Paris court sentenced Esfandiari in late February to four years in prison, three of which were suspended, citing the “seriousness and nature of the acts,” and imposed a permanent ban from French territory. Her lawyer, Nabil Boudi, then criticized the ruling as a “diplomatic error,” suggesting the court may have been influenced by the situation involving French nationals held in Tehran.