Overview
- The pair are now at the French ambassador’s residence in Tehran, where officials say they are safe and being supported by embassy staff.
- Tehran characterizes their status as a conditional release on bail with monitoring until a next judicial phase.
- Paris calls the transfer a first step and is pushing for their definitive release and return to France, with no timetable confirmed; they were the last French citizens officially held in Iran.
- Kohler and Paris were convicted in mid-October of espionage and sentenced to 20 and 17 years, allegations they have consistently denied.
- Iranian officials previously floated linking their fate to the case of Mahdieh Esfandiari, who was released under judicial control in France and, according to Tehran, is now at its embassy in Paris ahead of a January trial.