The suspected cause of the disappearance has now been confirmed: Lennart Monterlos, the young French-German who has not been heard from since June 16 while cycling through Iran, "was arrested for committing a crime," Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghtchi, told Le Monde in an interview on Thursday, July 10. "An official notification about the situation has been transmitted to the French embassy," the Iranian foreign minister added.
With this additional arrest, there are now three French nationals detained in Iran, a country that France strongly advises against visiting due to "the risk of arbitrary arrests."
The Iranian foreign minister did not specify the nature of the crime committed by Monterlos, aged 18. Nor did the German Foreign Ministry, when contacted by Agence France-Presse (AFP), which simply stated it was "aware of the facts."
"It is the duty of countries not to persecute innocent people who are sometimes unaware of the risks they are taking," French Prime Minister François Bayrou said on the LCI news channel. "We have a duty (...) of mutual protection, especially in these difficult times of tension and war," he added, "and that must be respected." He called on travelers to "follow the rules" that the young cyclist "disregarded."
The French Foreign Ministry, for its part, emphasized that it was "in contact with the Iranian authorities regarding the situation" of the young man. "We are also in contact with the family," the ministry added, refusing to provide further comment "as this is a case involving the security" of a French citizen. "We reiterate our call for all [our] nationals not to travel to Iran," the ministry continued.
This week, the French Foreign Ministry urged French nationals not to travel to Iran or, for those already there, to leave Iranian territory, stressing that Tehran was pursuing "a deliberate" and "conscious policy of taking Westerners hostage."
Two other French nationals, Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, accused of spying for Israel, are also being held in Iran and face the death penalty. Kohler, a literature teacher aged 40, and her partner, aged 72, were arrested on May 7, 2022, on the final day of a tourist trip to the Islamic Republic.
"The legal proceedings in their case, according to the crime they have committed, are being conducted in accordance with Iran's laws," Araghtchi told Le Monde. "Consular contacts have also been established with these two individuals, in keeping with the rules," he went on, noting that on July 1, the chargé d'affaires of the French embassy met with them.
French authorities have repeatedly condemned these detentions, which they consider arbitrary, and have accused Tehran of holding these people "hostage" in "degrading conditions akin to torture." In addition, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has repeatedly deplored the lack of "consular visits," which recently prompted France to file a complaint at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The arrest of Monterlos has further complicated relations between Paris and Tehran, as France has been exerting maximum pressure to secure the release of Kohler and Paris. Recently, President Emmanuel Macron personally threatened Iran with "retaliatory measures" if it maintained the espionage charges for Israel against the two French citizens.
Paris and other European capitals whose nationals are detained in Iran have accused Tehran of engaging in "hostage diplomacy" to gain leverage in highly sensitive talks on Iran's nuclear program, which have stalled for years, and to obtain the lifting of sanctions.
Relations between Iran and France are especially strained, with Tehran reproaching Western countries for failing to condemn recent Israeli strikes and Paris threatening to reinstate the so-called "snapback" sanctions mechanism provided for in the 2015 agreement governing Iran's nuclear program.
"The threat of sanctions does not help diplomacy," warned Araghtchi, calling on the three E3 countries – Germany, France and the United Kingdom – which are seeking to resume dialogue with Tehran, to play a "constructive role" in rebuilding the agreement. He cautioned that for Iran, the "'snapback' mechanism (...) would have the same effect as a military attack."
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.