Two French nationals, Cécile Kohler, 41, and Jacques Paris, 72, have returned to France after being detained in Iran for over three years on espionage charges. French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the pair back to Paris on Wednesday, hailing "the end of a terrible ordeal."
According to reports, the two teachers were arrested in May 2022 during what their families described as a tourist trip to Iran. They were convicted in a closed-door trial in October 2022 and sentenced to lengthy prison terms - 20 years for Kohler and 17 years for Paris - for allegedly spying for France and Israel.
This marks the end of a terrible ordeal lasting three and a half years
The pair were released from Tehran's Evin prison in November 2025 but remained under house arrest at the French embassy in Tehran until their departure this week. They left Iran early Tuesday in a diplomatic convoy with the French ambassador, traveling through Azerbaijan before boarding a commercial flight to Paris.
President Macron greeted Kohler and Paris at the Élysée Palace gardens after their arrival at Charles de Gaulle Airport. "This marks the end of a terrible ordeal lasting three and a half years," Macron said during a meeting with defense officials.
the current situation helped secure their release
The release comes amid heightened tensions in the region following US-Israeli strikes on Iran that began in late February. A source close to French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot suggested that "the current situation" helped secure their release, noting that "if anything dramatic had happened to our compatriots, the reaction would have been fierce."
Iran had previously suggested exchanging the French nationals for Iranian national Mahdieh Esfandiari, who was sentenced by a French court in February for justifying terrorism in social media posts about the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
if anything dramatic had happened to our compatriots, the reaction would have been fierce