NNA - Iranian authorities have released French citizen Olivier Grondeau, detained by the country since October 2022 on security charges, and he has returned to France, President Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday.

Grondeau "is free and with his loved ones", Macron wrote on X, adding that "our mobilisation will not weaken" to ensure the release of two other French citizens still detained by Iran in what Paris views as state hostage-taking.

Macron offered no immediate details of what led to Grondeau’s release, though it came on Nowruz, the Persian New Year when Iran has released prisoners in the past.--AFP

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