New French Envoy Demands Release of Citizens in Talks with Iran's President

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a parliament meeting in Tehran, Iran, on January 22, 2023. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a parliament meeting in Tehran, Iran, on January 22, 2023. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
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New French Envoy Demands Release of Citizens in Talks with Iran's President

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a parliament meeting in Tehran, Iran, on January 22, 2023. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a parliament meeting in Tehran, Iran, on January 22, 2023. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

France's new envoy to Iran told President Ebrahim Raisi that Tehran had to immediately release seven French nationals detained in the country, the foreign ministry said after the envoy handed his credentials to the Iranian leader this week.

Nicolas Roche was pictured this week in a local media meeting Raisi with the state news agency IRNA saying that the Iranian president had criticized France's Islamophobia and that Roche had been mandated to lift misunderstandings in relations.

Ties between France and Iran have deteriorated in recent months with Tehran detaining seven French nationals in what Paris has said are arbitrary arrests that are equivalent to state hostage-taking.

Describing the policy as "reprehensible", Deputy foreign ministry spokesman Francois Delmas said that by continuing to hold its citizens, Iran's relations with France and Europe could only worsen.

He said the new ambassador had made it clear to Raisi that the French citizens should be released immediately and that the conditions they were being held in were unacceptable.

Paris is particularly concerned by the condition of Franco-Irish citizen Bernard Phelan and French citizen Benjamin Briere, who last week began a hunger strike, according to a statement from the family.

Delmas said Paris was holding Tehran responsible for their health and demanded that Phelan be provided urgent medical care, which he was still being denied.

In recent years, Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on charges related to espionage and security.

groups have accused Iran of trying to extract concessions from other countries through such arrests. Iran, which does not recognize dual nationality, denies taking prisoners to gain diplomatic leverage.



Russia Pushes Back Ukrainian Troops in Some Areas of Kursk, Commander Says 

In this photo made from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, a Russian tank takes up firing positions at an undisclosed location in the Russian/Ukrainian border area, in ​​the Kursk region, Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service photo via AP)
In this photo made from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, a Russian tank takes up firing positions at an undisclosed location in the Russian/Ukrainian border area, in ​​the Kursk region, Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service photo via AP)
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Russia Pushes Back Ukrainian Troops in Some Areas of Kursk, Commander Says 

In this photo made from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, a Russian tank takes up firing positions at an undisclosed location in the Russian/Ukrainian border area, in ​​the Kursk region, Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service photo via AP)
In this photo made from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, a Russian tank takes up firing positions at an undisclosed location in the Russian/Ukrainian border area, in ​​the Kursk region, Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service photo via AP)

Russian forces have begun a significant counter-offensive against Ukrainian troops who smashed their way into western Russia last month, and have taken some territory back, pro-Moscow war bloggers and a senior Russian commander said.

Ukraine on Aug. 6 launched the biggest foreign attack on Russia since World War Two, bursting through the border into the region of Kursk with thousands of troops supported by swarms of drones and heavy weaponry, including Western-made arms.

Major General Apti Alaudinov, who commands Chechnya's Akhmat special forces who are fighting in Kursk, said that Russian forces had taken back control over about 10 settlements in Kursk, TASS reported.

"The situation is good for us," said Alaudinov, who is also deputy head of the Russian defense ministry's military-political department, adding that Russian forces had gone on the offensive.

"A total of about 10 settlements in the Kursk region have been liberated," he said.

Reuters was unable to verify the battlefield reports due to reporting restrictions on both sides of the war. Russian defense ministry reports about the fighting gave little information. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last week that his forces controlled 100 settlements in Kursk region over an area of more than 1,300 sq km (500 sq miles).

Yuri Podolyaka, a Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger, and two other influential bloggers - Rybar and the Two Majors - said that Russian forces had begun a significant counter-offensive in Kursk.

"In the Kursk region, the Russian Army launched counter-offensive actions on the western flank of the enemy's wedge, reducing the Ukrainian zone of control near the state border," the Two Majors blog said.

Podolyaka said that Russian forces had taken several villages on the west of the sliver of Russia that Ukraine carved out, pushing Ukrainian forces to the east of the Malaya Loknya River south of Snagost.