French couple return home after 3 years in Iran prison

Two French nationals touched down in Paris, the capital of France, on Wednesday, April 8, 2026, after spending more than three years in prison in Iran on espionage charges.

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

They were met on the tarmac by foreign ministry officials and were due to meet President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace.

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 United States-Israeli strikes on Iran started on February 28.

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

“We are absolutely delighted that they have arrived on French soil.”

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The president also thanked 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.