Iran since the Islamic revolution has employed the tactic of arresting Westerners in a bid to extract concessions from its foes, in a strategy of "hostage diplomacy" that has long presented Europe and the United States with a dilemma, observers say.

Iranian authorities this week released two French nationals, Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, from jail in Tehran after more than three years.

They had been convicted on charges of espionage but their families said they were innocent tourists unwittingly caught up in a wider game being played out between Tehran and the West.

(Reuters) -Former Spanish king Juan Carlos published a memoir on Wednesday in which he details his achievements as monarch, his sadness at his estrangement from his family and self-exile from Spain, and his hopes for reconciliation.

Below are some facts about his four-decade reign and the scandals marring his legacy.

EARLY LIFE AND HANDOVER FROM DICTATORSHIP

By Lewis Macdonald and Aislinn Laing

PARIS/MADRID (Reuters) -Spain's disgraced former king, Juan Carlos, feels abandoned and misunderstood, including by his son and heir, King Felipe VI, and by other close family members, according to his memoir that went on sale in France on Wednesday.

In "Reconciliation", Juan Carlos, 87, said he understood why Felipe needed to be "firm as king" in public, keeping his father at a distance, but said it was painful that "as a son he should be insensitive".

BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany has offered cash to Afghan nationals stranded in Pakistan if they give up efforts to enter Europe's biggest economy under a resettlement programme, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said on Wednesday.

The move is part of an effort by conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz's government to show it is tackling migration, a major concern for many German voters at a time when the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) tops several opinion polls.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -The detention of the Israeli military's former chief legal officer, who was arrested on Sunday, has been extended until Friday, a police source told Reuters on Wednesday.

Advocate General Major-General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned last week over a criminal inquiry into the leaking of a video that appeared to show soldiers abusing a Palestinian detainee arrested during the Gaza war.

President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday urged his Iranian counterpart to let two French citizens return home, as they were released after over three years in prison on espionage charges their families vehemently denied.

Meanwhile an Iranian citizen arrested in France in February on charges of promoting "terrorism" on social media, and who Tehran had said could be swapped in the case, was now at Iran's embassy in Paris, the Iranian foreign minister said.

By Sayed Hassib

MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) -Some residents in northern Afghanistan called on Wednesday for the Taliban government to help rebuild and restore a historic mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif that was damaged in a powerful earthquake.

Monday’s magnitude 6.3 quake struck near the city, killing at least 27 people, injuring almost 1,000 and destroying hundreds of houses, weeks before the onset of Afghanistan's harsh winter.

ANKARA (Reuters) -President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Turkey had entered a "new phase" in efforts to end Kurdish militant violence and signalled he was open to the idea of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan addressing lawmakers.

Erdogan said he held "very constructive" talks last week with senior pro-Kurdish DEM Party leaders - who have urged the idea of Ocalan addressing a parliamentary commission on PKK disarmament - and he urged all actors to contribute.

A French pair released by Iran after over three years in prison on espionage charges their families vehemently denied were on Wednesday awaiting permission to be allowed to return to France and end their ordeal.

Meanwhile an Iranian citizen arrested in France in February on charges of promoting "terrorism" on social media, and who Tehran had said could be swapped in the case, was now at Iran's embassy in Paris, the Iranian foreign minister said.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) -Former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki remains a potent force in Iraqi politics despite long-standing accusations that he fuelled sectarian strife and failed to stop Islamic State from seizing large areas of the country a decade ago.

As leader of the influential State of Law, a Shi'ite Muslim coalition, he is seen as having enough clout to decide who will become Iraq's next prime minister after a parliamentary election on November 11.