Overview

• An Iranian lower court convicted two French nationals of spying for France, conspiring against national security, and assisting Israeli intelligence, according to Mizan and Fars.
• One defendant received 6 years for spying, 5 years for conspiracy, and 20 years for assisting Israeli services; the other received 10, 5, and 17 years on the same counts.
• Iranian sentencing typically runs concurrently, so the longest single term would determine time served if the judgments stand.
• The defendants were not named, but the only French nationals known to be in Iranian custody are Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, whose detention France calls arbitrary with restricted consular access, claims Iran rejects.
• Iran’s judiciary says it is pursuing the release of Iranian student Mahdieh Esfandiari held in France, as the new sentences follow the recent acquittal and release of Franco‑German teenager Lennart Monterlos and can be appealed to higher courts.