Frenchman missing in Iran for weeks gives rise to hostage concerns
Paris has no details on what has happened to the man, Laurent Saint-Martin, who is also trade minister, told RTL radio. "It's a worrying disappearance and we are in contact with the family. It is worrying because Iran has a deliberate policy of taking western hostages."
Mr Saint-Martin did not say specifically that Iranian authorities are holding the man, who also holds German nationality.
French media reported the man is an 18-year-old who was on a cycling trip in the region but went missing a few days after Israeli planes struck targets in Iran.
Separately, a diplomatic source said Iran has charged two French citizens – Jacques Paris and Cecile Kohler – with spying for Israel's Mossad intelligence service. The two have been held in Iran more than three years in what France has called state-sponsored hostage taking.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, who spoke to his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi on Sunday, made no mention of the missing teenager but demanded the "immediate and unconditional" release of Mr Paris and Ms Kohler.
Ms Kohler's sister on Sunday said the two had been moved from Evin prison in Tehran after Israel bombed the site but she did not know where they were now being held.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has detained dozens of foreign and dual citizens in recent years, often on espionage-related charges. Rights groups and western countries accuse Tehran of using foreign detainees as bargaining chips, which it denies.
France in May filed a case at the World Court against Iran for violating the right to consular protection, in a bid to pressure Tehran over the detention of two of its citizens.
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