PARIS, Nov. 12 (Reuters) – Two more French nationals have been arrested in Iran, the French foreign minister said in a commentary published on Saturday, bringing the total number of French nationals detained there to seven.
This is a new indication of deteriorating relations between the two countries.
France criticized Iran on October 6, accusing it of committing “dictatorial practices” and taking its citizens hostage, after a video was broadcast in which two Frenchmen (a man and a woman) confessed to be espionage, after weeks of unrest for which Iran blames foreign countries.
“We are concerned about two other citizens and the results of our latest checks indicate that they have been arrested,” French minister Catherine Colonna said in an interview with Le Parisien newspaper.
Le Figaro newspaper reported on Friday that the pair were arrested before anti-government protests erupted in Iran in September following the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed the arrest of two other French nationals and declined to provide further details.
Relations between France and Iran have deteriorated in recent months with stalled talks aimed at reviving the nuclear deal, to which France is a party.
Neither country had an ambassador to the other before last week, when France sent a new envoy to Iran.
Protests over Mahsa Amini’s death after she was arrested by morale police in Tehran prompted the European Union to follow the lead of the United States, Canada and Britain in imposing sanctions on Iran.
Two diplomats told Reuters that a new package of EU human rights-related sanctions will be ratified at a meeting of foreign ministers on Monday.
They added that the sanctions would target individuals and entities involved in human rights abuses and would include an asset freeze and travel ban.
One of them said that France is also proposing sanctions related to the sale of drones and their components.
“If their (Iran) goal is to blackmail us, then this is the wrong way to deal with France,” Colonna said.
