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French President Emmanuel Macron has announced the release of two French nationals who have been detained in Iran for over three years on espionage charges.
Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris were released in November, but were not released to return to their home country.
Macron, in a post shared on X on Tuesday afternoon, disclosed that the duo are now on their way to France.
“Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris are free and on their way to French territory, after three and a half years of detention in Iran. This is a relief for all of us and obviously for their families,” Macron wrote.
Cécile Kohler et Jacques Paris sont libres et en chemin vers le territoire français, après trois ans et demi de détention en Iran. C’est un soulagement pour nous tous et évidemment pour leurs familles.
Merci aux autorités omanaises pour leurs efforts de médiation, aux services…
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 7, 2026
He also extended his appreciation to the Omani authorities for serving as mediators between Iran and France.
“Thank you to the Omani authorities for their mediation efforts, to the State services, and to the citizens who mobilised tirelessly and thus contributed to their return,” Macron added.
A source at the French foreign ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the pair left Iran Tuesday at dawn in a diplomatic convoy with the French ambassador and “are currently in Azerbaijan”.
41-year-old Kohler and 72-year-old Paris were arrested in May 2022 at the end of a trip to Iran that their families say was purely touristic in nature.
They were freed from Tehran’s Evin prison in November after more than three years in jail on espionage charges, their families say were fabricated, but the pair had been waiting to leave the country.
When the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran in February and plunged the Middle East into a crisis, the fate of the duo seemed uncertain.
Activists and some Western governments, including France, described their detention as a deliberate strategy of hostage-taking by Iran to extract concessions from the West.
