Tehran, Oct 7 (IANS): Two French nationals who were arrested in Iran have admitted to attempts to incite anti-government protests in the country, a state news media reported.

In a video aired on Iran's Arabic-language television news network al-Alam TV on Thursday, Cecile Kohler, 37, admitted to being an agent of the French Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE), the state news media reported.

Kohler said in the video footage that she went to Iran with her partner, Jacques Paris, 69, to lay the groundwork for mass unrest in an effort to start "a revolution" against the Islamic Republic, according to the report.

Paris said the DGSE's objective was to "put pressure on the Iranian government," according to the report.

Kohler and Paris travelled to Iran on April 28 as tourists. However, Iran's Intelligence Ministry said in May that the two French nationals had been arrested for attempting to incite chaos and social disorder in the country during teachers' protests, Xinhua news agency reported.