Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, two French nationals held in Iran since 2022, are on their way back home, President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday, following their release in November after more than three years in prison on espionage charges.
"Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris are free and on their way to France, after three and a half years in detention in Iran," the French president posted on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
A source at the French foreign ministry said the couple left Iran on Tuesday at dawn in a diplomatic convoy with the French ambassador and "are currently in Azerbaijan".
"We are waiting for their return to France so we can give them a big hug," Anne-Laure Paris, Jacques Paris's daughter, told French news agency AFP.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said he had spoken to the couple.
"They shared with me their emotion and their joy to return soon to their country and their loved ones," he posted on X.
The foreign ministry said Barrot had held discussions at the weekend with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi.
Lawmakers greeted the announcement of their release with a standing ovation at the National Assembly.
Kohler, 41, and Paris, 72, 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.
'Immense relief' for families after French couple freed from Iran prison
Their fate had seemed even more uncertain after US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February sparked a regional war.
Both teachers – although Paris is retired – they were among a number of Europeans caught up in what activists and some Western governments, including France, describe as a deliberate strategy of hostage-taking by Iran to extract concessions from the West.
Release of Mahdieh Esfandiari
Iran's official news agency IRNA confirmed the couple's release, saying it followed an understanding between Tehran and Paris that France would in turn release Mahdieh Esfandiari, an Iranian citizen living in the French city of Lyon.
Esfandiari was arrested last year over anti-Israel social media posts. As part of the understanding, France would also withdraw a complaint against Iran in the International Court of Justice, IRNA reported.
French prosecutor seeks jail term for Iranian woman accused of terrorism
The release of the French couple came as United States President Donald Trump threatened that "a whole civilisation will die tonight" unless Iran reaches a last-minute deal with the US to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Last Thursday a container ship belonging to French shipping group CMA CGM passed through the Strait of Hormuz, a sign that Iran may not consider France to be a hostile nation.
(with newswires)
