Iran said on Monday a proposed deal with France to release a couple in exchange for an Iranian student is pending "necessary procedures", weeks after Tehran claimed the agreement was close.
The statement struck a different tone from that of Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who said last month that the exchange was in the “final stages”.
Mr Araghchi made the announcement before UN economic and military sanctions were reimposed on Iran. The measures took effect as the three European partners to the deal – the UK, France and Germany – activated the so-called snapback mechanism, after accusing Iran of "continued nuclear escalation" and a refusal to co-operate.
"Decisions regarding the release of these two individuals are being made by the relevant authorities and we hope that, once the necessary procedures are completed, this will happen," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said.
He repeated the claim that Paris has not informed Tehran of the "exact" reasons behind the arrest of Mahdieh Esfandiari, an Iranian woman living in the French city of Lyon, who was arrested this year over what has been described as anti-Israel social media posts.
Tehran arrested Cecile Kohler, 41, a French literature teacher, and her partner, Jacques Paris, 72, in May 2022, during the last day of a tourist trip to Iran. They were accused of spying for Israel, an accusation they deny.
In a separate case, an Iranian court on Monday announced the acquittal of Lennart Monterlos, a French-German citizen accused of espionage and arrested in June during the war between Iran and Israel.
Mr Monterlos, 19, was arrested on June 16 in the southern city of Bandar Abbas. The charges against the teenager, who was cycling alone across Iran on a Europe-to-Asia bike trip, were never disclosed.
His family had called on Iranian authorities to release him, arguing he was "innocent of everything".
"The Revolutionary Court, taking into account legal principles and doubts about the crime, has issued a verdict of acquittal of the accused," the judiciary's Mizan Online website reported. The prosecutor could object to the decision.
In the couple's case, France filed a case against Iran at the UN's top court in May over their detention. In the case filed at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), France accused Iran of "violating its obligation to provide consular protection" to the pair, who "have been held hostage ... detained in appalling conditions that amount to torture", Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told France 2 TV.
Last month, the ICJ said it ended the case at the request of France.
Ms Kohler and Mr Paris are the last known French detainees in Iran and their families say they face tough conditions in jail. They are among several Europeans held by Tehran in what some countries, including France, regard as a strategy to extract concessions from the West at a time of tension over Tehran's nuclear programme.
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
THE 12 BREAKAWAY CLUBS
England
Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur
Italy
AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus
Spain
Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Real Madrid
The Byblos iftar in numbers
29 or 30 days – the number of iftar services held during the holy month
50 staff members required to prepare an iftar
200 to 350 the number of people served iftar nightly
160 litres of the traditional Ramadan drink, jalab, is served in total
500 litres of soup is served during the holy month
200 kilograms of meat is used for various dishes
350 kilograms of onion is used in dishes
5 minutes – the average time that staff have to eat
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Company%20profile
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LIST OF INVITEES
Shergo Kurdi (am)
Rayhan Thomas
Saud Al Sharee (am)
Min Woo Lee
Todd Clements
Matthew Jordan
AbdulRahman Al Mansour (am)
Matteo Manassero
Alfie Plant
Othman Al Mulla
Shaun Norris
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Company profile
Name: Infinite8
Based: Dubai
Launch year: 2017
Number of employees: 90
Sector: Online gaming industry
Funding: $1.2m from a UAE angel investor
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
THE BIO
Occupation: Specialised chief medical laboratory technologist
Age: 78
Favourite destination: Always Al Ain “Dar Al Zain”
Hobbies: his work - “ the thing which I am most passionate for and which occupied all my time in the morning and evening from 1963 to 2019”
Other hobbies: football
Favorite football club: Al Ain Sports Club
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE SQUAD
Khalid Essa (Al Ain), Ali Khaseif (Al Jazira), Adel Al Hosani (Sharjah), Mahmoud Khamis (Al Nasr), Yousef Jaber (Shabab Al Ahli Dubai), Khalifa Al Hammadi (Jazira), Salem Rashid (Jazira), Shaheen Abdelrahman (Sharjah), Faris Juma (Al Wahda), Mohammed Shaker (Al Ain), Mohammed Barghash (Wahda), Abdulaziz Haikal (Shabab Al Ahli), Ahmed Barman (Al Ain), Khamis Esmail (Wahda), Khaled Bawazir (Sharjah), Majed Surour (Sharjah), Abdullah Ramadan (Jazira), Mohammed Al Attas (Jazira), Fabio De Lima (Al Wasl), Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Khalfan Mubarak (Jazira), Habib Fardan (Nasr), Khalil Ibrahim (Wahda), Ali Mabkhout (Jazira), Ali Saleh (Wasl), Caio (Al Ain), Sebastian Tagliabue (Nasr).
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
The specs
Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: eight-speed PDK
Power: 630bhp
Torque: 820Nm
Price: Dh683,200
On sale: now
Company%20Profile
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