Overview

• Iran’s judiciary has formally indicted Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris on espionage, conspiracy to overthrow the regime and corruption charges, each punishable by death
• Paris has lodged a suit at the International Court of Justice challenging the capital accusations
• President Macron has warned he will seek restoration of UN sanctions under the nuclear deal if Tehran does not drop the death-penalty charges by September
• Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot denounces the pair’s more than 1,140-day detention in Evin Prison as torture and confirmed they received a rare French consular visit this week
• The charges come after a 12-day Israel-Iran clash that peaked with an Israeli strike on Evin Prison, which France says left its nationals uninjured