TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's foreign minister says Iran and France are close to agreeing to an exchange of prisoners, including the release of an Iranian woman arrested in France over her online posts related to the war in Gaza.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state TV late on Thursday that Mahdieh Esfandiari is expected to be released as part of a swap that he hoped would happen “in the coming days.”

Esfandiari, a translator living in the French city of Lyon since 2018, was arrested in February on a terror-related charge for alleged posts on Telegram about the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza, according to French media reports.

Araghchi did not elaborate on any French prisoners who might be released, but France has long sought the release of two French

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