• Iranian Mahdieh Esfandiari was released on 22 October. She was placed under judicial control and transferred to the Iranian embassy in Paris. She was in pre-trial detention for "glorifying the attacks committed in Israel on October 7, 2023, provoking acts of terrorism and insulting the Jewish community".

• Frenchmen Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris were conditionally released on November 4 and transferred to the French embassy in Tehran. They are safe there after 3 years of detention for "espionage".

☞ These movements come at a time when, for the past 8 years, Germany, France and the United Kingdom have interpreted the JCPoA (nuclear agreement with Iran) as if it included a ban on testing missiles that could carry nuclear bombs. Since this summer, these three countries have been pretending to consider that they can activate the snapback mechanism to reinstate the sanctions that were repealed by the JCPoA. Russia and China have opposed it several times, noting that the JCPoA is now validated by Security Council Resolution 2231. However, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres pretended to understand that the Security Council had voted unanimously to reinstate sanctions on 26 September. He even distributed instructions for their enforcement, prompting strong protests from Russia and China, which were outraged by this interpretation of international law.

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Translation
Gregor Fröhlich