The detention and release of the French couple, Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, reveal only the tip of the iceberg regarding the Iranian intelligence war with France and other Western democracies. Tehran employs hostage detention tactics to bargain for the release of its arrested agents in Europe. These “intelligence activities” are directly linked to terrorism, as the Iranian regime has consistently attempted to assassinate Iranian dissidents abroad and target Jewish and Israeli civilians worldwide.
In October 2025, French investigative journalists Emmanuel Razavi and Jean-Marie Montali published a book in which they describe the history and current state of Iranian influence in France. The Iranian infiltration in France is a complex network that blends ideological influence with covert operations carried out by the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Read the full article on the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security.
Alex Grinberg is a Senior Fellow at the Turan Research Center.