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French Citizen Olivier Grondeau Freed after Imprisonment in Iran, Macron Says

A demonstrator holds a photograph of Olivier Grondeau at a Paris gathering in support of French nationals jailed in Iran, February 1, 2025. Sebastien Dupuy, AFP
A demonstrator holds a photograph of Olivier Grondeau at a Paris gathering in support of French nationals jailed in Iran, February 1, 2025. Sebastien Dupuy, AFP
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French Citizen Olivier Grondeau Freed after Imprisonment in Iran, Macron Says

A demonstrator holds a photograph of Olivier Grondeau at a Paris gathering in support of French nationals jailed in Iran, February 1, 2025. Sebastien Dupuy, AFP
A demonstrator holds a photograph of Olivier Grondeau at a Paris gathering in support of French nationals jailed in Iran, February 1, 2025. Sebastien Dupuy, AFP

A French citizen imprisoned in Iran for over 880 days has been freed, French officials said Thursday.

The release of Olivier Grondeau comes as France and the rest of Europe try to pursue negotiations with Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program.

US President Donald Trump meanwhile has sent his own letter to Iran's 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to jumpstart talks. Trump is also pressuring Tehran over its support of Yemen's Houthi extremists as the American military has launched an intense new campaign of airstrikes targeting the group.

French President Emmanuel Macron wrote online that Grondeau had been freed. He offered no immediate details of what led to Grondeau’s release, though it came on Nowruz, the Persian New Year, when Iran has released prisoners in the past.

Jean-Noël Barrot, France's minister for Europe and foreign affairs, posted a picture online of Grondeau smiling aboard what appeared to be a private jet. On his lap appeared to be a picture of the pop star Britney Spears, something the official did not acknowledge in welcoming Grondeau's release.

“We will tirelessly continue our efforts to ensure that all our compatriots still held hostage, including Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, are in turn released,” Barrot wrote.

Macron also raised the case of the other two French nationals held in Iran.

“Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris must be freed from Iranian jails,” he wrote. “My thoughts are with them and their families today.”

The Iranian government did not immediately acknowledge Grondeau’s release. Such releases of Westerners in Iran typically come in exchange for something. Early this week, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said that France had arrested an Iranian women who supported Palestinians, but said Tehran was still trying to gather more details about her case.

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Ethiopia's Army Says It Killed More than 300 Fano Militiamen in Two Days of Fighting

Ethiopia and Eritrea on warpath. (Reuters)
Ethiopia and Eritrea on warpath. (Reuters)
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Ethiopia's Army Says It Killed More than 300 Fano Militiamen in Two Days of Fighting

Ethiopia and Eritrea on warpath. (Reuters)
Ethiopia and Eritrea on warpath. (Reuters)

Ethiopia's army said on Friday its troops had killed more than 300 fighters from the Fano armed group in two days of clashes in the northern Amhara region, as fears have emerged of a wider regional war.
The Fano militia fought alongside the army and Eritrean forces in a two-year civil war that pitted Addis Ababa against the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which controls the northern region of Tigray.
Since then Eritrea and Ethiopia have fallen out, the former was excluded from peace talks to end that war in November 2022.
Fears of a new war emerged in recent weeks after Eritrea reportedly ordered a nationwide military mobilization and Ethiopia deployed troops toward their border.
Fighting between Ethiopia's army and Fano - a loose collection of militias with no centralized leadership - broke out in July 2023, fueled in part by a sense of betrayal among many Amharas about the terms of the 2022 peace deal.
The army said in a statement on Friday: "The extremist group calling itself Fano...carried out attacks in various (zones) of the Amhara region under the name of Operation Unity, and has been destroyed."
It said 317 Fano fighters were killed and 125 injured. Abebe Fantahun, spokesperson of Amhara Fano in Wollo Bete-Amhara, contradicted the tally, telling Reuters late on Friday the army had not killed even 30 of their fighters.
Yohannes Nigusu, spokesperson for Fano in Gondar, Amhara region, said 602 federal army soldiers were killed in the fighting and 430 wounded, while 98 soldiers had been captured and weapons had been seized by the militia.
Abebe also described as a "lie" the national army's claim that Brigadier General Migbey Haile, a senior military official allied with one of TPLF's factions, supported Fano's Operation Unity and denied he had any links to the militia.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the number of those killed in the fighting.
Getnet Adane, the army spokesperson, and Legesse Tulu, the federal government spokesperson, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the toll shared by Fano.
Amanuel Assefa, a senior official in Debretsion Gebremichael's faction of the TPLF Migbey belongs to, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.