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Iran Sentences 2 French Citizens to a Combined 63 Years over Espionage Charges

An Iranian man walks next to Iran's national flags on a street in Tehran, Iran, 13 October 2025. (EPA)
An Iranian man walks next to Iran's national flags on a street in Tehran, Iran, 13 October 2025. (EPA)
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Iran Sentences 2 French Citizens to a Combined 63 Years over Espionage Charges

An Iranian man walks next to Iran's national flags on a street in Tehran, Iran, 13 October 2025. (EPA)
An Iranian man walks next to Iran's national flags on a street in Tehran, Iran, 13 October 2025. (EPA)

An Iranian court sentenced two French citizens to a combined 63 years in prison on espionage and national security charges, the country's judiciary said Tuesday, likely further straining relations between Tehran and Paris.

The semiofficial Fars news agency named the pair as Cecile Kohler and Chuck Paris. The two have been held since 2022 on charges France has denounced as “unjustified and unfounded.” The judiciary’s Mizan news agency also reported Tuesday’s sentencing but without sharing the names of the two French nationals.

Their possible prison sentences, which can be appealed to Iran’s Supreme Court within 20 days, come as Tehran pressures French authorities to release an Iranian national.

Iran's Revolutionary Court in Tehran, which holds closed-door hearings that often see defendants unable to access the evidence allegedly gathered against them, issued the preliminary verdict, Mizan reported. The court accused the two of working for French intelligence and cooperating with Israel.

The court sentenced the two defendants to over 30 years in prison apiece, Mizan reported. Typically, convicts only serve the longest single term among their charges.

Kohler and Paris were arrested after meeting with protesting Iranian teachers and taking part in an anti-government rally, Iranian media reported at the time. France identified the two as a teachers’ union official and her partner on vacation in Iran. Concerns for their safety grew after the 12-day Iran-Israel war in June that saw Israel bomb a notorious prison in Tehran.

In September, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said his nation was close to making a prisoner swap deal with France. Mahdieh Esfandiari, a translator living in the French city of Lyon since 2018, was arrested in February on a terror-related charge for alleged posts on Telegram about the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 that triggered the war in Gaza, according to French media reports.

Last week, Iran released a teenage French-German cyclist who disappeared in June while riding across the country, the French government said. Iran has not acknowledged Lennart Monterlos' release.

Iran is known for holding dual nationals and Westerners and using them as bargaining chips in diplomatic negotiations.

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World

Mid-air Collision of Philippines Military Planes Kills 4 Pilots

Philippines National Flag is pictured as the rainbow displays over it in Manila, Philippines, January 8, 2020. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan/File Photo
Philippines National Flag is pictured as the rainbow displays over it in Manila, Philippines, January 8, 2020. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan/File Photo
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Mid-air Collision of Philippines Military Planes Kills 4 Pilots

Philippines National Flag is pictured as the rainbow displays over it in Manila, Philippines, January 8, 2020. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan/File Photo
Philippines National Flag is pictured as the rainbow displays over it in Manila, Philippines, January 8, 2020. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan/File Photo

Two military planes crashed mid-air during training at an air base in the Philippines, killing four pilots, the air force said Saturday.

The SF-260 single propeller planes crashed at Fernando Air Base, south of Manila, on Friday afternoon.

"Both aircraft went down within the base perimeter, with no other casualties reported," Philippine Air Force spokesman Colonel Alvin Capinguian said in a statement.

An investigation was opened to determine the cause of the mishap, and Capinguian said the air force's fleet of SF-260s has been temporarily grounded as a precaution.

There have been a number of deadly crashes involving Philippine military aircraft in recent years.

In May, two military pilots were killed when another SF-260 plane crashed during a training flight in Benguet province in the northern Philippines.

World

NKorea's Kim Calls for 'Military Revolution' as he Urges Stronger Army Units

This picture taken between October 22 and 23, 2026 released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on October 24, 2026 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaking during the third meeting of company leaders of the Korean People's Army at the Pyongyang Gymnasium in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
This picture taken between October 22 and 23, 2026 released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on October 24, 2026 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaking during the third meeting of company leaders of the Korean People's Army at the Pyongyang Gymnasium in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
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NKorea's Kim Calls for 'Military Revolution' as he Urges Stronger Army Units

This picture taken between October 22 and 23, 2026 released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on October 24, 2026 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaking during the third meeting of company leaders of the Korean People's Army at the Pyongyang Gymnasium in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
This picture taken between October 22 and 23, 2026 released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on October 24, 2026 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaking during the third meeting of company leaders of the Korean People's Army at the Pyongyang Gymnasium in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for the country's army companies to be turned into elite, self-sufficient combat units during a two-day meeting of company commanders in Pyongyang, state media KCNA said on Saturday.

The event underscored Kim's consistent policy priority of strengthening the ⁠military.

In a speech ⁠at a conference of company commanders for North Korea's Army on October 22-23, which KCNA said was the first military-wide gathering ⁠since the Ninth Congress of North Korea's ruling party in February, Kim called for every company to fully prepare so that "the goal of the new-era military build-up" can be achieved.

"Let us build the strongest army and speed up a ⁠military revolution ⁠in our style,” Reuters quoted Kim as saying.

During the Ninth Congress of North Korea's ruling party in February, which sets the country's direction for the next five years, Kim called for stronger conventional armed forces as well as reaffirming efforts to develop nuclear weapons and missiles.

World

Rubio Urges Cubans to Work with CIA, but Warns: Be Discreet

FILE PHOTO: A man rides a bicycle taxi past parked vintage cars normally used for public transportation, in Havana, Cuba, July 21, 2026. REUTERS/Norlys Perez/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A man rides a bicycle taxi past parked vintage cars normally used for public transportation, in Havana, Cuba, July 21, 2026. REUTERS/Norlys Perez/File Photo
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Rubio Urges Cubans to Work with CIA, but Warns: Be Discreet

FILE PHOTO: A man rides a bicycle taxi past parked vintage cars normally used for public transportation, in Havana, Cuba, July 21, 2026. REUTERS/Norlys Perez/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A man rides a bicycle taxi past parked vintage cars normally used for public transportation, in Havana, Cuba, July 21, 2026. REUTERS/Norlys Perez/File Photo

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday called for Cubans to make "discreet" contact with the American intelligence services as Washington seeks to force an end to the island's communist government.

For months, President Donald Trump and other senior US officials have openly hinted at a military intervention or takeover of Cuba, ramping up economic, political and legal pressure on the country.

"To those who seek to create positive change in Cuba -- now is the time," Rubio said on social media.

"The disappointment of failed promises, corruption, and the privileged lives of only a few; seize this opportunity to create the change you desire through a discrete partnership with the CIA."

The unusual post appeared to confirm that the CIA is currently active in Cuba after a long history of covert operations including backing the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961.

The CIA later uploaded a video to X offering instructions in Spanish for those who believe they have information of interest to the intelligence agency, encouraging them to first and foremost visit an official US installation in person if they can safely travel to one.

For those hoping to contact the CIA online via the cia.gov website, the agency instructed users to access the internet on a secure network like a VPN using a private browser and a burner email account unassociated with any personal details.

Those sharing information should be prepared to include their city, job, level of access and contact information with their message.

Trump, speaking at a rally in Florida earlier Friday, underlined his ambitions to impose regime change in Cuba.

"Those beautiful (US military) ships will pass Cuba. We'll have one of them stop about 50 yards off the coast," he said. "They'll raise up their hands. And then we're going to send Marco Rubio in to finish up the deal."

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez quickly dismissed Trump's threats.

"Our coastline is full of beautiful beaches, but there are also razor-sharp limestone spikes, an inhospitable environment for those who make it to our shores with hostile purposes and lust for domination," he posted, according to AFP.

In the latest US move against the Cuban leadership, Florida's top prosecutor this week announced an arrest warrant for former president Raul Castro on state murder charges that echo a federal indictment unveiled earlier this year.

Castro, 95, is wanted on murder charges connected to the 1996 shooting down of two civilian aircraft from "Brothers to the Rescue," an organization assisting Cubans fleeing to the US state by sea.

Castro, brother of the late revolutionary leader and US nemesis Fidel Castro, was indicted on federal charges related to the incident in May.

Trump previously seized on a US indictment to justify military action that toppled Venezuela's then-president Nicolas Maduro, a staunch ally of the Cuban authorities.

Current Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has said the US federal indictment against Castro has "no legal basis" and was an attempt "to justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba."

Washington also imposed a de facto energy blockade on Cuba in January, threatening to sanction any country that supplies fuel to the island of 9.4 million people.