After two years of detention in Iran and despite the risks he runs in doing so, Frenchman Olivier Grondeau came out of silence to reveal his identity on Monday January 13. This 34-year-old traveler was arrested in Shiraz, in the south of the country, in October 2022, before being sentenced to five years in prison for “plot against the Islamic Republic”, said his mother, Thérèse Grondeau, on France Inter. He is the third “hostage” held by Iran, with teacher Cécile Kohler and her companion Jacques Paris, prisoners since 2022.
“You, who have the power to influence this matter, hear this truth. Cécile’s strength, Jacques’ strength, Olivier’s strength are running out.”said Olivier Grondeau about them, in a statement made on the telephone from his cell in Tehran prison and broadcast by Radio France. “Your responsibility is committed to the survival of three human beings”added the Frenchman, who said he was at the end of his strength, after more than two years spent in Iranian jails.
No lifting of sanctions without release of “hostages”
Olivier Grondeau, who maintains his innocence, has chosen to emerge from anonymity while the Islamic Republic continues to cynically operate its “hostage diplomacy”. Iran announced the release and repatriation of its national Mohammad Abedini, arrested in Italy at the request of the United States, on Sunday January 12, four days after the release of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, held in solitary confinement for three weeks in Tehran. Although officially no link has been made between the two files, the Islamic Republic regularly uses this “bargaining currency” of foreign or binational nationals to negotiate with states considered enemies. A trump card in a game lacking in assets, since the fall of Bashar Al Assad in Syria, the weakening of Hezbollah in Lebanon and on the eve of the inauguration of a Donald Trump capable of launching an open confrontation with Tehran .
Faced with this risk of strengthening the American posture, the Islamic Republic agreed to participate in talks on its nuclear program with the E3 countries – France, Germany and the United Kingdom – organized on Monday January 13 for two days in Geneva. . The regime is mainly seeking to obtain a lifting of sanctions. Tehran is playing on several fronts: Iran will sign a “global strategic partnership agreement” during a visit by Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian to Moscow.
Westerners know that its nuclear program has never been so advanced. But the Europeans are seeking a narrow diplomatic path to avoid a scenario in which Israel, backed by the United States, could embark on the destruction of its nuclear capabilities. A winding path on which Paris also sets its conditions. “Our hostages must be freed. Our bilateral relations and the future of sanctions depend on it,” warned the head of French diplomacy, Jean-Noël Barrot, on January 7, equating for the first time their unjust detention with « torture ».
