Demonstrators, mouths taped closed, hold portraits of Mahdieh Esfandiari, an Iranian national detained in France, during a protest in front of the French Embassy in Tehran to demand her release, Iran, Tuesday, October 21, 2025. VAHID SALEMI / AP
Iranian citizen Mahdieh Esfandiari, who was arrested in France in February and accused of promoting terrorism on social media, has been conditionally released, the Iranian foreign ministry said on Wednesday, October 22.
The decision to free her under judicial supervision was confirmed by the prosecutors' office in Paris, which said it had urged the court to keep her detained. France and Iran have discussed the release of Esfandiari in exchange for Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, a French couple detained by Iran, with Iran's foreign minister saying last month that a deal was in "its final stages."
Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei "welcomed the decision" to conditionally release Esfandiari in a statement, adding that Tehran was working on her return home.
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