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.



Israel's Netanyahu Heads to Hungary, Defying ICC Arrest Warrant

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
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Israel's Netanyahu Heads to Hungary, Defying ICC Arrest Warrant

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu begins a four-day visit to Hungary on Thursday, defying an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over allegations of war crimes in Gaza as Israel has expanded its military operation in the enclave.

As a founding member of the ICC, Hungary is theoretically obliged to arrest and hand over anyone subject to a warrant from the court but Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban made clear when he issued the invitation that Hungary would not respect the ruling.

Netanyahu is due to meet Orban ahead of a press conference at around 1000 GMT.

In Budapest, workers were constructing a stage in the Buda Castle on Wednesday, where Orban was scheduled to welcome Netanyahu in a ceremony with military honors on Thursday morning and security forces could be seen near the central Budapest hotel where Netanyahu will be staying, The AP news reported.

The visit will be only the second he has made abroad since the International Criminal Court issued warrants to arrest both him and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant last November, but details of his program have been limited apart from a planned visit to a Holocaust memorial.

He visited Washington in February to meet close ally US President Donald Trump. Neither Israel nor the United States are members of the ICC, with Washington arguing the ICC could be used for politically motivated prosecutions.

Orban invited Netanyahu to visit a day after the ICC issued its arrest warrant over allegations of war crimes in Gaza, where Israel launched an offensive following a devastating attack by thousands of Hamas fighters on the October 7 attack.

Since then, the Israeli campaign has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and devastated the Gaza Strip, triggering protests worldwide and prompting South Africa to launch separate legal action in the International Court of Justice, a different body to the ICC, accusing Israel of genocide.