France says 2 citizens held in Iran freed from prison, on way to Paris

By ELAINE GANLEY
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — French authorities say a French citizen and another holding dual French-Irish nationality have been freed from an Iranian prison. Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said Friday that Benjamin Briere and Bernard Phelan, who both had been held in a prison in Mashhad, in northeast Iran, were heading to Paris. President Emmanuel Macron and the minister thanked all those who worked for the men’s release but provided no details of the delicate diplomacy that preceded it. Colonna says more diplomatic work with Tehran is needed “because there are, unfortunately, too many who are detained without reason in Iran.”