France's " non-constructive
" attitude
towards Iran and its "
interventionism
" do not facilitate discussions on the possible release of French people detained in the country, an Iranian diplomacy official said on Monday. .
"
I hope that we will see a positive development in this case
," Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said during his weekly press briefing.
“
Of course, the positions and actions of countries can play a positive role
” for this.
But "
the French government has adopted a non-constructive attitude and shown interventionism in the recent situation of the Islamic Republic
", he added, answering the question of a French journalist present in Tehran.
"
Naturally, the continuation of such actions will not help to settle the issue of prisoners
," concluded Nasser Kanani.
Strong challenge from France
France is one of the countries that most strongly denounced
the “repression
” of the wave of protests that shook Iran after the death on September 16 of Mahsa Amini following her arrest in Tehran by the morality police. , who accused her of breaking the strict dress code requiring women to wear the veil in public.
Officially, six French people are detained in Iran: the teacher and trade unionist Cécile Kohler and her companion Jacques Paris, the Franco-Irish Bernard Phelan, Louis Arnaud and Benjamin Brière, as well as another national whose identity has not been made public.
The Franco-Iranian researcher Fariba Adelkhah, arrested in June 2019 and then sentenced to five years in prison for undermining national security, was released on February 10.
Iran announced on Sunday that everything was "
ready
" to complete a prisoner swap with the United States, but Washington dismissed the statement as "
another cruel lie
".
Read alsoWho are the six French detainees in Iran?
Nasser Kanani said on Monday that "
negotiations with the United States were continuing through mediators
", the two countries having no diplomatic relations.
He reaffirmed that a “
written agreement had been signed in March 2022
” for an exchange of prisoners to be organized without “
being linked
” to negotiations for the lifting of sanctions in the Iranian nuclear file.
