Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris spent more than three years behind bars on charges Paris said are spurious.
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron said two French nationals who had been detained in Iran for years left the country just hours before U.S. President Donald Trump’s impending deadline for Tehran to cut a deal with the United States or face civilizational erasure.
Cécile Kohler, 41, and Jacques Paris, 72, spent more than three years behind bars in Iran after being convicted of espionage, charges Paris has long said were spurious. The duo, both teachers, were released in November but kept under de facto house arrest in the French embassy in Tehran.
“It’s a relief for all of us and of course for their families,” Macron wrote on X. The French leader also praised Oman’s mediation efforts to obtain the pair’s release.
French authorities had repeatedly expressed concern for Kohler and Paris since the United States and Israel began launching strikes against Iran in February. The rush to secure their release took on added urgency as Trump scaled up his threats against Iran.
Trump on Tuesday warned that should Iran fail to cut a deal, “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”
“I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” he wrote in a Truth Social post on Tuesday.
The U.S. president has threatened to attack Iranian power plants and bridges if Tehran doesn’t open the Strait of Hormuz.
On Tuesday morning, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said France “opposed all strikes against civilian infrastructure” in Iran because they would represent a violation of international law and could escalate the conflict in the Middle East.
France has been trying to keep out of the conflict. Paris insists its military deployments to the region were purely defensive and meant to assist regional allies, who have suffered retaliatory strikes from Iran.