DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Iranian court sentenced two French citizens to a combined 63 years in prison on espionage and national security charges, the country’s judiciary said Tuesday, likely further straining relations between Tehran and Paris.

The semiofficial Fars news agency named the pair as Cecile Kohler and Chuck Paris. The two have been held since 2022 on charges France has denounced as “unjustified and unfounded.” The judiciary’s Mizan news agency also reported Tuesday’s sentencing but without sharing the names of the two French nationals.

Their possible prison sentences, which can be appealed to Iran’s Supreme Court within 20 days, come as Tehran pressures French authorities to release an Iranian national.

Iran’s Revolutionary Court in Tehran, which holds closed-do

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