Iran frees two French nationals from prison, Macron says

PARIS (Reuters) -Iran has released two French nationals imprisoned there for more than three years, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday, in apparent exchange for an Iranian student who was conditionally freed in October.

Cecile Kohler and her partner Jacques Paris, who had been detained since 2022, "are out of the Evin jail and en route to the French Embassy in Tehran", Macron posted on X.

"I welcome this first step. The dialogue continues to allow for their return to France as quickly as possible."

Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said later on X that Kohler and Paris were now "safe" at the French Embassy "ahead of their final release".

Kohler and Paris were among dozens of foreign and dual nationals held by the Islamic Republic in recent years, often on espionage-related charges. France has said the charges against Kohler and Paris were unfounded.

Their release brought to an end years of negotiations between the two countries over French citizens held in Iran - as many as seven as of 2022.

France has repeatedly accused Iran of state hostage-taking and holding its nationals arbitrarily in conditions akin to torture. Tehran has denied the allegation.

The chances of Kohler and Paris being released appeared to rise after France arrested Mahdieh Esfandiari, a student living in the city of Lyon, earlier this year over anti-Israel social media posts. She was conditionally released in late October.

Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted an Iranian foreign ministry official at the time as saying that Esfandiari was getting ready for a prisoner swap.

(Reporting by John Irish and Dominique Vidalon; editing by Mark Heinrich)