UPDATE 1-French-German national Monterlos back in France after release by Iran, France says

(Adds context, detail on other detainees in paragraphs 4-5, Iran comments in paragraph 6) Oct 8 (Reuters) – French-German national Lennart Monterlos has been released from detention in Iran and is back in France, outgoing French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Wednesday. Iran had been holding the 18-year-old cyclist after arresting him in June on espionage charges. Monterlos was acquitted on Monday, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. "Lennart Monterlos is free!" Barrot wrote in a post on the social media X. Both Barrot and President Emmanuel Macron reiterated demands that Iran release French nationals Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who have been held in the Islamic Republic since 2022. On Monday, the two countries said talks for the release of all three prisoners were progressing. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi suggested in mid-September the French nationals could be exchanged for Mahdieh Esfandiari, an Iranian student living in the French city of Lyon who was arrested this year over anti-Israel social media posts. (Reporting by Alessandro Parodi, editing by Dominique Vidalon, William Maclean)

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