Iran has released two French nationals imprisoned for more than three years but they remain for now at the French embassy in Tehran as diplomats continue to negotiate their possible return to their home country.
Negotiating the release of Cecile Kohler, 41, and her partner Jacques Paris, 72, arrested on spying charges in May 2022 while they were on holiday in Iran, had become a priority for France's diplomacy.
Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot regularly described their living conditions as "akin to torture" and posters of their faces had been plastered in front of the National Assembly in Paris. President Emmanuel Macron, who was the first to announce their release on X, described it as a "huge relief".
Mr Barrot also welcomed their release but has refused to give a timeline of their return to France. "They are safe in the embassy and we demand their immediate and unconditional release," Mr Barrot said to radio RTL on Wednesday.
The pair also appear to be in good health, he said, adding that he had dispatched a doctor and a Foreign Ministry official to Tehran to assist them.
But Mr Barrot declined to comment on reports that an Iranian Foreign ministry representative said the two had been granted "conditional release" on bail and "will be placed under surveillance until the next stage of the judicial proceedings".
"They are under the protection of France" at the embassy, Mr Barrot said.
Pressed by his interviewer, who also asked for details of a call between Mr Barrot and his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday, the French minister said: "If you'll allow me, I'll leave a veil of discretion over the details that allowed our teams to secure this release."
Speaking to France Inter, French ambassador to Iran, Pierre Cochard, who picked them up at Evin prison on Tuesday night, said that their stay at the embassy "could last a few days, maybe a bit more, but I cannot commit to anything on this point".
A lawyer of the former detainees, Martin Pradel, complained about the lack of certainty regarding their fate. "Today they are not free to exercise their freedom to go home," he said. "There's no half-freedom. Or you're free, or you're not."
It also remains unclear what Iran wants in return for the freedom of Ms Koehler and Mr Paris. French diplomats have regularly described Iran's practice of detaining westerners in exchange for the release of Iranian citizens detained in Europe as "hostage diplomacy".
There has been speculation that the couple could be freed in exchange of Iranian Mahdieh Esfandiari, who was arrested in France in February on charges of promoting terrorism on social media.
She is to go on trial in Paris from January 13 but was last month released on bail by the French judicial authorities in a move welcomed by Tehran.
France had filed a case with The Hague-based International Court of Justice over the couple's detention, saying they were held under a policy that "targets French nationals travelling in or visiting Iran".
But in September, the ICJ suddenly dropped the case at France's request, sparking speculation that closed-door talks were under way between France and Iran for their release.
Fraught relations
Relations between France and Iran have been historically fraught but worsened with the arrest of Ms Kohler and Mr Paris.
There was fear for their safety when Israel in June bombed locations in Iran, including Evin Prison. French media has reported that the couple had been temporarily transferred to a secret location.
The strikes on Evin Prison, which killed at least 80 people, have been described as unlawful by human rights organisations.
Iran-France ties further soured after France, alongside the UK and Germany, activated a process to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran in October.
There is "absolutely" no link between negotiations to free Ms Koehler and Mr Paris and the nuclear file, according to Mr Barrot. However, Mr Cochard, who started his job in Tehran in June, said that relations between France and Iran were likely to improve once they return to France.
"When I arrived here, my message was to say that we cannot have normal relations as long as our compatriots are detained," Mr Cochard said. "When they will be on French soil, that will open the possibility to rekindle normal relations with this country [Iran]."
They were reportedly held for long periods of time in isolation with lights on 24/7. When asked whether they had been tortured or badly treated, Mr Barrot said it would be up to them to describe their living conditions at Evin prison. Mr Cochard said they had told him that the greatest suffering came from "uncertainty about what would happen next".
Iranian media reported last month that a court had sentenced Ms Kohler and Mr Paris to decades in prison on spying charges.
Iran’s judiciary news agency Mizan said a revolutionary court in Tehran issued a preliminary verdict against two French citizens for “working for French intelligence” and “co-operating with Israel", without identifying them.
The semi-official Fars agency later identified them as Ms Kohler and Mr Paris, and said the court imposed cumulative terms totalling 63 years for various charges.
With additional reporting by AFP
