Iran has rejected a plea by President Macron to free two French academics being held on spying charges.
Mr Macron said that the jailing of Roland Marchal and Fariba Adelkhah, researchers at the SciencesPo university in Paris, was “intolerable” adding: “They must be released immediately.”
Iran agreed to exchange prisoners with the US in what observers saw as a sign of a thaw in relations between the countries, but there was no suggestion of a deal with France.
Abbas Mousavi, a foreign ministry spokesman, was quoted by the media in Iran as saying: “The government and others do not take advice from others. Interference in our state matters is unacceptable.”
Prosecutors in Iran have opposed a judge’s decision to free the researchers on bail,