France working ‘tirelessly’ to free ‘hostage’ couple held in Iran: Macron

France is vigorously working to free a couple who on Wednesday marked three years in detention in Iran on spying charges, President Emmanuel Macron said.

Cecile Kohler, a 40-year-old literature teacher from eastern France and her partner Jacques Paris, in his 70s, were arrested on May 7, 2022, on the last day of a tourist trip to Iran.

They are among a number of Europeans still held by Iran in what some European countries, including France, regard as a deliberate strategy of hostage-taking to extract concessions from the West at a time of tension over the Islamic republic’s nuclear program.

“I assure their families that our support is unwavering,” Macron wrote on X social media, adding that France was “working tirelessly” toward freeing the “hostage” couple.

Kohler and Paris are jailed in extremely tough conditions, according to their families.

“Cecile and Jacques are increasingly desperate and are less and less optimistic,” said Kohler’s sister Noemie, who leads the campaign for her sister’s release.