French President Emmanuel Macron warned on Thursday that Paris will impose unspecified “measures of retaliation” if Iran continues to prosecute two French citizens on freshly expanded espionage charges. Speaking in southern France, Macron called Tehran’s move a “provocation” and an “unacceptable act of aggression,” and said he intends to raise the matter directly with Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian. The detainees—Cécile Kohler, a 40-year-old literature teacher, and her partner Jacques Paris, 72—were arrested in May 2022 during a tourist visit and had long faced general spying allegations. Iran’s judiciary has now indicted them for spying for Israel’s Mossad, plotting to overthrow the regime and “corruption on Earth,” offences that can carry the death penalty. Relatives say the pair were moved to undisclosed locations after surviving explosions when Israeli airstrikes hit Tehran’s Evin prison on 23 June. A French consular team recently located them briefly at Bozorg penitentiary in southern Tehran before they were again transferred, heightening concern about their safety and health. Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot reiterated that France could link any future decision on sanctions—including the reactivation of UN Resolution 2231’s ‘snapback’ mechanism—to the prisoners’ fate. Kohler’s lawyer dismissed the accusations as baseless, insisting the couple are teachers with no ties to intelligence work.