Two French citizens pardoned and released from Iranian prison return to France.

Two French citizens, including one also holding Irish nationality, were released from prison in Iran and returned to France. Bernard Phelan and Benjamin Brière were among some two dozen foreigners jailed in Iran who campaigners see as hostages held in a deliberate strategy by Tehran to extract concessions from the West. Four more French citizens are still in prison by Iran. The holding of foreigners by Tehran has increased tensions with the West at a time when the Islamic republic is also under scrutiny for its crackdown on the protest movement that erupted in September.