Rhino: Agencies – France summoned the Iranian ambassador on Friday to protest the detention of three of its citizens in conditions the foreign ministry described as akin to torture.

The French citizens are “hostages of the State of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the ministry said. “Their situation is intolerable in degrading conditions of detention that for some constitute torture under international law,” it added. It urged French citizens not to travel to Iran.

Officials in France say the conditions for progress in talks with Iran on bilateral or multilateral issues will depend on the release of the hostages.

Top French, British and German diplomats will meet with their Iranian counterparts on Monday in Geneva to discuss bilateral issues and more explicitly the future of nuclear talks before Donald Trump returns to the White House on January 20.