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French Pair Back in Paris After Iran ‘Terrible Ordeal’

People walk past the portraits of French nationals Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris in front of the French National Assembly in Paris on July 3, 2025. (AP)
People walk past the portraits of French nationals Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris in front of the French National Assembly in Paris on July 3, 2025. (AP)
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French Pair Back in Paris After Iran ‘Terrible Ordeal’

People walk past the portraits of French nationals Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris in front of the French National Assembly in Paris on July 3, 2025. (AP)
People walk past the portraits of French nationals Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris in front of the French National Assembly in Paris on July 3, 2025. (AP)

Two French nationals arrived in Paris on Wednesday after spending more than three years in an Iranian prison on espionage charges, with President Emmanuel Macron hailing "the end of a terrible ordeal."

Cecile Kohler, 41, and Jacques Paris, 72, arrived on a commercial flight, landing at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris shortly before 9:00 am (0700 GMT).

They were met on the tarmac by foreign ministry officials and were due to meet Macron at the Elysee Palace later in the day.

The pair had been under house arrest at the French embassy in Tehran ever since being freed in November, with their fate even more uncertain after US-Israeli strikes on Iran started on February 28.

"This marks the end of a terrible ordeal lasting three and a half years," Macron said at a meeting of top defense and security officials on Wednesday morning.

"We are absolutely delighted that they have arrived on French soil," he said, once again thanking Oman for its mediation efforts.

An Iranian diplomatic source welcomed the news on Wednesday.

"The ceasefire announced in Iran and the return of the two French nationals is a double cause for satisfaction," the source said.

Officials and their supporters celebrated the return.

"We are waiting for their return to France so we can give them a big hug," Anne-Laure Paris, Paris's daughter, told AFP on Tuesday.

The pair left Iran early Tuesday in a diplomatic convoy with the French ambassador and arrived in Azerbaijan's capital Baku later in the day.

- 'Current situation' -

They departed after US President Donald Trump on Monday warned of widespread strikes on civilian infrastructure once a deadline he issued for Tehran to reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz had expired.

Trump said on Tuesday he was suspending bombing of Iran for two weeks.

A source close to French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that "what secured their release was the current situation."

"If anything dramatic had happened to our compatriots, the reaction would have been fierce," the source added.

Kohler and Paris -- both teachers, although Paris is retired -- were arrested in May 2022 at the end of a trip to Iran that their families say was for tourism.

At the end of a closed-door trial, an Iranian court in October sentenced them to jail on espionage charges their families say were fabricated.

The tribunal jailed Paris for 17 years and Kohler for 20 years for allegedly spying for France and Israel.

They were released the following month.

The pair were among a number of Europeans caught up in what activists and some Western governments describe as a deliberate strategy of hostage-taking by Iran to extract concessions from the West.

Tehran had earlier suggested that Iranian national Mahdieh Esfandiari could be exchanged for Kohler and Paris.

Esfandiari was sentenced by a French court in February to one year in prison for justifying terrorism over comments she made on social media, including on Palestinian group Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Her house arrest order was lifted following the French pair's departure from Iran, her lawyer has told AFP.

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World

Russia Hits Ukraine with Drones and Missiles, At Least 19 Dead

Emergency services work to rescue residents from under the debris at the site of an apartment building which was hit by a Russian missile strike in the town of Pryluky, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the Chernihiv region, Ukraine, October 7, 2026. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
Emergency services work to rescue residents from under the debris at the site of an apartment building which was hit by a Russian missile strike in the town of Pryluky, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the Chernihiv region, Ukraine, October 7, 2026. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
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Russia Hits Ukraine with Drones and Missiles, At Least 19 Dead

Emergency services work to rescue residents from under the debris at the site of an apartment building which was hit by a Russian missile strike in the town of Pryluky, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the Chernihiv region, Ukraine, October 7, 2026. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
Emergency services work to rescue residents from under the debris at the site of an apartment building which was hit by a Russian missile strike in the town of Pryluky, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the Chernihiv region, Ukraine, October 7, 2026. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

Russia pounded Ukraine with waves of missiles and drones on Wednesday, killing at least 19 people and hitting residential buildings, industrial facilities and infrastructure, Ukrainian officials said.

One Russian missile slammed into an apartment block in the northern city of Pryluky, killing at least 13 people including four children, regional governor Vyacheslav Chaus said.

Dozens of rescuers picked through the rubble at the site where several sections of the five-story building collapsed, Reuters video showed.

Emergency workers used ladders to get to the upper floors of what remained of the building. Around 50 people were wounded, the governor said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said six other people were killed in Kyiv, Oleksandria and Kremenchuk during the heavy overnight attack.

"This was one of the most vile strikes: 70 missiles in total, many of them ballistic," Zelenskiy said on the Telegram app. "One of the key targets was ⁠our energy infrastructure. ⁠The Russians wanted to strike painfully and demonstratively."

Russia's defense ministry said its forces had carried out a "massive strike" on military-industrial facilities in Kyiv and other Ukrainian regions, using high-precision land-, sea- and air-launched weapons, as well as drones.

Ukraine's air force said it had downed just over 80% of the 46 jet-powered drones launched by Russia — a sharp increase from recent weeks when, on average, air defenses took down 50% to 60%.

Since the summer, Russia has used increasing numbers of the new high-velocity drones in round-the-clock attacks on Kyiv and other cities, stretching Ukraine's air defenses which have struggled to cope with their speed.

The air force ⁠did not explain the jump in the interception rate and did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Zelenskiy said that the Russian ballistic missiles remained the major challenge for Ukraine, adding that he and his team were "every day looking for Patriot (missile interception) systems that can and must protect people's lives.”

The US-made Patriot system is the only weapon in Ukraine's arsenal capable of stopping high-velocity ballistic missiles but tight global supplies have been drained by the Iran war this year as well as the Ukraine conflict.

Ukraine's energy ministry said that it had started to roll out partial emergency power cuts in five Ukrainian regions due to the attacks.

Russia's defense ministry said its targets included sites where Ukrainian defense company Fire Point manufactures and stores its Flamingo cruise missiles and medium- and long-range drones in Kyiv as well as regions of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava and Kharkiv.

Last week, Zelenskiy said Ukraine had fired its first domestically made ballistic missile in combat, produced ⁠by Fire Point.

In an interview with ⁠Reuters last week, Zelenskiy said he expected the company to have a longer-range FP-9 missile ready by the autumn. The company has said that weapon will be able to reach Moscow.

Zelenskiy said Ukrainian troops hit four targets in Russia over the past 24 hours, including two Russian oil facilities and a training ground in the Perm, Samara, and Astrakhan regions.

In the Reuters interview, Zelenskiy said Ukraine would hit Russia's energy assets in response to Moscow's escalating strikes on civilian infrastructure.

Many Kyiv residents took shelter in the city's deep underground metro stations as warnings of the upcoming attacks were shared by Ukrainian officials and military intelligence.

Several loud explosions reverberated through the capital during the night, Reuters witnesses said.

"The metro is better, because we live on the 9th floor of a high-rise, and it's really scary when you're on the 9th floor and missiles are flying at you," Lesia, a 49-year-old Kyiv resident, told Reuters.

Ukrainian officials said Russian ballistic missiles targeted Kyiv in addition to the drones.

Overnight air strikes on the southeastern city of Dnipro damaged an industrial facility, transport infrastructure in Zaporizhzhia and apartment buildings in Kremenchuk, regional officials said on the Telegram messaging app.

World

India Says 12 Seafarers Injured in Hormuz Tanker Attack

A man checks his cellphone at a waterfront shelter as commercial vessels appear anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, Tuesday, Oct, 6, 202 (AP)
A man checks his cellphone at a waterfront shelter as commercial vessels appear anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, Tuesday, Oct, 6, 202 (AP)
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India Says 12 Seafarers Injured in Hormuz Tanker Attack

A man checks his cellphone at a waterfront shelter as commercial vessels appear anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, Tuesday, Oct, 6, 202 (AP)
A man checks his cellphone at a waterfront shelter as commercial vessels appear anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, Tuesday, Oct, 6, 202 (AP)

India said 12 crew members on a Panama-flagged tanker had been injured in an attack while crossing the Strait of Hormuz, with those hurt receiving medical treatment in Oman.

“We condemn the attack earlier today on a Panama-flagged commercial vessel MT On Peace... it was struck by a projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” New Delhi’s foreign ministry said in a statement cited by AFP.

The ministry said the tanker had a 19-member crew, including 17 Indians. Of those injured, 11 are Indians.

“With the assistance of Omani authorities, the injured crew have since been evacuated and are receiving medical treatment in Khasab, Oman,” it said.

India is one of the largest contributors of sailors to merchant shipping worldwide, and several of its mariners have been killed in Hormuz attacks since the Middle East war began on February 28.

An attack on a cargo ship in the same region last month killed an Indian sailor, according to New Delhi.

“The continuing incidents of attacks on shipping in the region remain a cause of deep concern for India,” the ministry said.

Iran has sought to impose its control over the vital shipping lane for Gulf oil and gas since the start of the war, occasionally striking ships accused of failing to coordinate with its authorities or deviating from its preferred route.

In retaliation, the United States has been enforcing a counterblockade of Iranian ports, carrying out strikes of its own on ships it says refuse to comply.

“We reiterate our call for an immediate cessation of such attacks in the interests of peace and stability in the region,” the statement said.

“The targeting of commercial shipping, seafarers and civilian infrastructure in the region must end, and navigation and commerce through international waterways must be restored at the earliest.”

World

Iran Nominates ‘Aerospace and Missile Official’ For Defense Minister Post

Mehrdad Akhlaghi Ketabchi (Mehr news agency)
Mehrdad Akhlaghi Ketabchi (Mehr news agency)
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Iran Nominates ‘Aerospace and Missile Official’ For Defense Minister Post

Mehrdad Akhlaghi Ketabchi (Mehr news agency)
Mehrdad Akhlaghi Ketabchi (Mehr news agency)

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has nominated Mehrdad Akhlaghi Ketabchi, a senior official linked to the country’s missile industry, for the position of defense minister, an official said Monday.

Pezeshkian “in a letter, introduced Mehrdad Akhlaghi Ketabchi to Parliament to take up the post of defense minister and armed forces logistics,” Sasan Valizadeh, a presidential advisor, said, as cited by semi-official Mehr News Agency.

The nomination was sent to Parliament, requiring a confidence vote after lawmakers review Akhlaghi Ketabchi’s program.

In Iran, parliamentary approval of nominees for sensitive security positions is generally regarded as a formality, as the nomination and public announcement of a candidate typically indicate that he or she has already secured the Supreme Leader’s approval.

However, Iranian media outlets say the nomination of Akhlaghi Ketabchi has raised questions about how the appointment received approval at the highest levels of Iran’s political establishment, given the Supreme Leader’s continued absence from public view.

The nomination came to fill a post vacant since Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh was killed in US-Israeli strikes in February.

The ministry has been run by acting minister Majid Ebn-e-Reza since March 2. A former deputy defense minister, Ebn-e-Reza has represented Iran domestically and abroad but was not put forward for the permanent role.

A Longtime Defense Official

Akhlaghi Ketabchi is a longtime Defense Ministry official with deep ties to Iran’s missile and aerospace sectors.

The UN Security Council listed him in 2007 as head of the Shahid Bagheri Industrial Group, linked to Iran’s ballistic missile program; his name reappeared on UN sanctions lists when earlier measures were re-imposed in September 2025.

In 2014 he was appointed head of the Aerospace Industries Organization. He was also sanctioned by the US in 2020 over his alleged links to Iran’s arms-related activities, while the UK sanctioned him in 2023 over his alleged involvement in Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile activities.