Colonna Calls on Iran to Immediately Release French Hostages

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna. AFP
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna. AFP
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Colonna Calls on Iran to Immediately Release French Hostages

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna. AFP
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna. AFP

Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna called on Tuesday for the immediate release by Iran of French “hostages” in the country.

During a brief exchange with her Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on the sidelines of an Iraq support summit taking place on the shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan, Colonna said she insisted on the respect of “civil and political rights” in Iran and the “non-interference” of Tehran in its neighborhood.

“I spoke to him briefly in the summit room to ask him again for the immediate release of the hostages who are being held by Iran and for full respect for international humanitarian law and international law in general,” she said.

“This means respecting its international obligations both in terms of civil and political rights (..) and non-interference in the affairs of others”, the French Minister underlined.  

In Paris, the support committees for Fariba Adelkhah and Benjamin Brière, currently detained in Iran, urged, in an open letter to French President Emmanuel Macron, coordinated action by European countries.

“It must be recognized that the (French) negotiation strategy pursued until now has not yielded any significant results,” the committees said in their letter.

According to the French authorities, seven French nationals are detained in Iran, including Cécile Kohler, a teacher and trade unionist, and her companion Jacques Paris.

In addition to this couple arrested in early May while sightseeing in Iran, there is Franco-Iranian researcher Fariba Adelkhah, arrested in June 2019 and then sentenced to five years in prison for undermining national security, as well as Benjamin Brière, arrested in May 2020 and sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison for espionage.

In their letter to Macron dated Monday, the support committees said they fear that the list will grow “since the capture of foreigners has become real public policy in Iran.”

The committees also asked the French President “to reconsider” the diplomatic strategy “to put an end to the ordeal of our relatives, our colleagues, our fellow citizens, and this barbaric policy of blackmail that Iran is practicing at the diplomatic level.”

“France’s European partners also have nationals taken hostage by the Tehran authorities. It is high time that Europe speaks with one voice and to insist that any form of dialogue and relationship with Iran is related to the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages,” the letter wrote.



Germany's Merz Heads for Delicate Talks with Trump

Friedrich Merz, left, wants to maintain good ties with what he has called Germany's 'indispensable' ally, despite Donald Trump's disruptive 'America First' policies. Ludovic MARIN, SAUL LOEB / POOL/AFP/File
Friedrich Merz, left, wants to maintain good ties with what he has called Germany's 'indispensable' ally, despite Donald Trump's disruptive 'America First' policies. Ludovic MARIN, SAUL LOEB / POOL/AFP/File
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Germany's Merz Heads for Delicate Talks with Trump

Friedrich Merz, left, wants to maintain good ties with what he has called Germany's 'indispensable' ally, despite Donald Trump's disruptive 'America First' policies. Ludovic MARIN, SAUL LOEB / POOL/AFP/File
Friedrich Merz, left, wants to maintain good ties with what he has called Germany's 'indispensable' ally, despite Donald Trump's disruptive 'America First' policies. Ludovic MARIN, SAUL LOEB / POOL/AFP/File

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is set to meet with US President Donald Trump on Thursday, hoping to build a personal relationship despite discord over Ukraine and the threat of a trade war.

A month into his job, the conservative Merz, 69, is a staunch transatlanticist at pains to maintain good ties with what he considers post-war Germany's "indispensable" ally, despite Trump's unyielding "America First" stance, said AFP.

Merz will hope that his pledges to sharply increase Germany's NATO defense spending will please Trump, and that he can find common ground on confronting Russia after the mercurial US president voiced growing frustration with President Vladimir Putin.

On Trump's threat to hammer the European Union with sharply higher tariffs, Merz, leader of the bloc's biggest economy, has argued that it must be self-confident in its negotiations with Washington, saying that "we're not supplicants".

Despite the tensions, Merz said he was "looking forward" to his first face-to-face meeting with Trump.

"Our alliance with America was, is, and remains of paramount importance for the security, freedom, and prosperity of Europe," he posted on X late Wednesday.

His office has also voiced confidence that Merz will be spared the kind of public dressing down Trump delivered in the Oval Office to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa.

Merz is looking ahead to his first in-person meeting with Trump "with great calmness and joy", his spokesman Stefan Kornelius said, pointing to their "very good relationship" so far.

"Germany is the third-largest economy in the world, and we have a lot to offer as an economic partner of the USA," Kornelius said.

"At the same time, a very constructive and positive relationship with America is very important to us, for our own economy and for the security of Germany and Europe."

The two leaders -- both with business backgrounds and keen golf players -- are on first-name terms after several phone calls, Kornelius said, and Merz now has Trump's cellphone number on speed dial.

Defense and trade

Merz has been given the honor of staying at Blair House, the presidential guest residence on Pennsylvania Avenue across from the White House.

Merz has even felt comfortable enough to have a little fun at Trump's expense, recently telling a TV interviewer that his every second or third word was "great".

Whatever the personal chemistry, the policy issues are potentially explosive.

Trump launched his roller-coaster series of trade policy shifts in April, with the threat of 50-percent US tariffs on European goods looming.

Merz, who has sat on many corporate boards, is "very experienced in business, too -- the world from which Donald Trump comes," his chancellery chief of staff, Thorsten Frei, told the Funke media group.

On the Ukraine war, where Germany strongly backs Kyiv, Merz will hope to convince Trump to heighten pressure on Putin through new sanctions to persuade him to agree to a ceasefire.

Trump, 78, has recently expressed frustration with Putin, calling him "crazy", but without announcing concrete new measures.

Merz's visit comes ahead of a G7 summit in Canada on June 15-17 and a NATO meeting in The Hague at the end of the month.

Merz has said Germany is willing to follow a plan to raise defense spending to 3.5 percent of GDP over coming years, with another 1.5 percent dedicated to security-related infrastructure.

'Calm and reasonable'

Another potential flashpoint issue looms -- the vocal support Trump and some in his administration have given to the far-right and anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which came second in February elections.

US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and former Trump adviser Elon Musk have all weighed in in support of the AfD, which in Germany is shunned by all other political parties.

When Germany's domestic intelligence service recently designated the AfD a "right-wing extremist" group, Rubio denounced the step as "tyranny in disguise".

Merz slammed what he labelled "absurd observations" from Washington and said he "would like to encourage the American government... to largely stay out of" German domestic politics.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has also openly criticized Trump, saying this week that he frequently made statements "that seem directed against the fundamental foundations of our coexistence".