Iran: Nuclear deal start of better French ties

Iran says its July nuclear agreement with the P5+1 countries, which included France, has served as a beginning for the improvement of Tehran-Paris relations.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani made the remark while meeting with visiting President of the French Senate Gerard Larcher in Tehran on Sunday.

France joined its fellow members of the P5+1 countries, namely the United States, Britain, China, and Russia plus Germany, in marathon talks over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, which resulted in the conclusion of the agreement in the Austrian capital of Vienna on July 14.

Later in the month, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius visited Tehran to hold talks with high-ranking Iranian officials; and the head of the French National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Élisabeth Guigou, met with Alaeddin Boroujerdi, who chairs the Iranian Parliament’s (Majlis) National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, in the Iranian capital.

France’s main business lobby group, the Medef, sent a delegation headed by French Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll and Trade Minister Matthias Fekl and comprising more than 100 firms to the Islamic Republic in September to lay the groundwork for the first business contracts between France and Iran since the accord. French energy company Total also joined an international conference in Tehran last month, discussing available grounds for the development of hydrocarbon fields in Iran and the commissioning of liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants.

Rouhani said, “Visits by high-level French economic and political officials and delegations to Iran following the nuclear agreement showed that the conclusion of the accord is a starting point for the activation and development of cooperation and relations between the two countries.”

“Tehran and Paris have common goals in many areas and both sides have the political will to use the existing opportunities to the two nations’ benefit,” he added.

He expressed hope that “Iran, as a stable country in the region, and France, as a powerful country in Europe, can join in good cooperation and measures toward resolving regional and international issues and conflicts.”

The Iranian chief executive also condoled with the French government and nation on the November 13 terrorist attacks in the French capital of Paris, which killed some 130 people. “Iran hopes that the perpetrators of these crimes face justice as soon as possible.”

The French official expressed gratitude for the condolence and said, “The French government and parliament attach great importance to the [upcoming] trip by the Iranian president to Paris and we hope that the visit takes place in the near future.”

French President Francois Hollande has said President Rouhani will pay an official visit to France at the end of January.

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