{"id":3357,"date":"2026-04-07T14:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T14:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/3357\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T14:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T14:58:08","slug":"iran-allows-2-french-former-detainees-to-leave-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/3357\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran allows 2 French former detainees to leave country"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Iran has allowed two French former detainees, C\u00e9cile Kohler and Jacques Paris, to leave the country, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday. They had been holed up in French diplomatic premises there since their release from prison.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cC\u00e9cile Kohler and Jacques Paris are free and en route towards French territory, after three and a half years of detention in Iran,\u201d Macron posted on X.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">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 Iran war. Macron has distanced France from the conflict, saying his country wasn\u2019t consulted in advance about the US-Israel strikes and did not want the war.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"French members of parliament applaud as they learn that C\u00e9cile Kohler and Jacques Paris are free and on their way to France after three and a half years in detention in Iran, during a session at The National Assembly, France\u2019s lower house of parliament in Paris on Tuesday. Photo: AFP\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/51f9db12-02e0-4e98-acfd-708ce220c640_69875011.jpg\" title=\"French members of parliament applaud as they learn that C\u00e9cile Kohler and Jacques Paris are free and on their way to France after three and a half years in detention in Iran, during a session at The National Assembly, France\u2019s lower house of parliament in Paris on Tuesday. Photo: AFP\"\/>French members of parliament applaud as they learn that C\u00e9cile Kohler and Jacques Paris are free and on their way to France after three and a half years in detention in Iran, during a session at The National Assembly, France\u2019s lower house of parliament in Paris on Tuesday. Photo: AFP<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Macron thanked Oman for playing a mediation role in the release of Kohler and Paris. \u201cIt\u2019s a relief for us all and obviously for their families,\u201d Macron wrote.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Iranian authorities freed them from prison in November but did not let them leave the country. They\u2019d been held for more than three years in detention on spying charges, which Paris said were unfounded.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">French officials said they were then being kept safe at the French embassy in Tehran.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Kohler and Paris were arrested in May 2022 while visiting Iran. France denounced their detention as \u201cunjustified and unfounded.\u201d<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Western nations have accused Iran of using foreign prisoners as bargaining chips, an allegation Tehran rejects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran has allowed two French former detainees, C\u00e9cile Kohler and Jacques Paris, to leave the country, French President&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3254,3295,36,5,3293,50,309,3296,424,30,3297,3292,3294,3284],"class_list":{"0":"post-3357","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-cecile-kohler","9":"tag-detention","10":"tag-emmanuel-macron","11":"tag-france","12":"tag-french-embassy","13":"tag-iran","14":"tag-iran-war","15":"tag-jacques-paris","16":"tag-oman","17":"tag-paris","18":"tag-spying-charges","19":"tag-tehran","20":"tag-western-nations","21":"tag-x"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}