00:00Their release could be edging closer.
00:04Three years after French citizens Cécile Collet and Jacques Paris were arrested in Iran,
00:09negotiations appear to be making headway,
00:12and a prisoner swap deal between the two nations could be on the cards.
00:16However, France's foreign minister is remaining tight-lipped,
00:20saying it is a sensitive issue with immense gravity.
00:24France consistently demands the immediate and unconditional release of our nationals in Iran,
00:30and I will not comment on the Iranian minister's remarks.
00:36In Tehran, his counterpart was more forthright.
00:40On Thursday, he told national media that talks are in the final phases.
00:45We have carried out a great deal of activity,
00:49and I can now say that we have reached the point
00:51where the exchange of the French prisoners in Iran is now approaching its final stages.
00:56Collet and Paris were arrested on May 7, 2022.
01:03Tehran accuses them of spying for Israel,
01:06a claim Paris refutes,
01:08saying they are being held as state hostages.
01:12The French government plans to lodge a complaint against Iran
01:15at the International Court of Justice over their detention.
01:18The pair were in Evin prison when it was bombed by Israel at the end of June.
01:24Their families have since described the situation as increasingly desperate.
01:29In total, around 20 Europeans are currently being held in Iran,
01:33including a Franco-German teenager who was on a cycling trip
01:37when he disappeared in the country in June.
01:39The proposed prisoner swap also involves an Iranian woman arrested in France in February
01:45on charges of promoting terrorism through social media.
01:50Tehran claims she has been unjustly detained.
01:53Tehran claims she was a privilege to have worked with for everything.
02:13government play for surviving seniors.
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