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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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Putin Declares Unilateral Easter Ceasefire in Ukraine

A couple looks at Independence Square in Kyiv during a warm spring day on April 19, 2025 amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP)
A couple looks at Independence Square in Kyiv during a warm spring day on April 19, 2025 amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP)
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Putin Declares Unilateral Easter Ceasefire in Ukraine

A couple looks at Independence Square in Kyiv during a warm spring day on April 19, 2025 amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP)
A couple looks at Independence Square in Kyiv during a warm spring day on April 19, 2025 amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a unilateral 30-hour Easter ceasefire in Ukraine on Saturday, after Washington said it could abandon peace talks within days unless the Moscow and Kyiv show they are ready to stop the war.
Putin ordered fighting to stop as of 6 p.m. Moscow time (1500 GMT) on Saturday until midnight on Sunday night.
"Based on humanitarian considerations ... the Russian side announces an Easter truce. I order a stop to all military activities for this period," Putin told Valery Gerasimov, Chief of Russia's General Staff, at a meeting televised on Saturday.
"We assume that Ukraine will follow our example. At the same time, our troops should be prepared to repel possible violations of the truce and provocations by the enemy, any aggressive actions," Putin added.
But shortly after the announcement, around an hour before it was due to take effect, air raid sirens rang out in Kyiv.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy dismissed the proposal as "yet another attempt by Putin to play with human lives". As of 45 minutes before the truce was meant to start, Ukrainian planes were repelling Russian air strikes, Zelenskiy said in a post on X.
"Shahed drones in our skies reveal Putin's true attitude toward Easter and toward human life," he said, referring to Iranian-made attack drones used widely by Russia in the war to attack Ukrainian cities far from the front.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its troops had been instructed about the ceasefire and would adhere to it, provided it was "mutually respected" by Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said on Friday the United States would walk away from efforts to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace deal unless there were clear signs of progress soon.

Kirill Dmitriev, an envoy for Putin who travelled to Washington this month, posted news of the ceasefire on X, adding: "One step closer to peace" and an emoji of a dove.
Trump has vowed to bring a swift end to the war, while shifting US policy from firmly supporting Kyiv towards accepting Moscow's account of the conflict.
Last month, Ukraine accepted a proposal from Trump for a 30-day truce which Moscow rejected; the sides agreed only to limited pauses of attacks on energy targets and at sea, which both accuse the other of breaking.
Putin's announcement comes a week after a Russian missile attack killed 35 people and wounded nearly 120 in the Ukrainian city of Sumy, including Christians heading to celebrate Palm Sunday. That attack, the deadliest against civilians of the year so far, spurred Kyiv and its European allies to press Washington to take a tougher line towards Moscow.
Putin has proclaimed unilateral pauses in fighting in the past with little impact on the battlefield, including a 36-hour proposed truce for Orthodox Christmas in January, 2023, which Kyiv rejected.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this week that some progress on a peace settlement had already been made but that contacts with Washington were difficult.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has killed and injured hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides, displaced millions of Ukrainian civilians and reduced frontline Ukrainian cities to rubble.
Putin has said repeatedly that he wants an end to the war, but had not retreated from his initial demands that Kyiv cede all territory he claims to have annexed and be permanently barred from joining a defense alliance with the West.
Kyiv says those terms would be tantamount to surrender and leave it undefended from future Russian attacks.
Putin told Gerasimov on Saturday that Russia welcomed efforts from the US, China and BRICS countries to find a peaceful settlement to the conflict.
Separately, Russia and Ukraine both confirmed a swap of prisoners of war on Saturday, mediated by the UAE. Each released 246 prisoners, while a further 31 wounded Ukrainians were transferred in exchange for 15 injured Russian soldiers, the Russian defense ministry said.