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French Foreign Minister latest in line of dignitaries to visit Iran

If taken up, the trip would be Rouhani’s first to France as president.

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Rouhani stressed that the free zones should advance closer to their primary goal of development of export, instead of concentration on imports.

According to the report, Zaganeh said Total will make to make the move, after sanction on Iran will be lifted. The nuclear agreement “can be a foundation for various bilateral agreements and also for cooperation between Iran and the EU”.

The July 14 deal between Iran and six world powers – the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany – is meant to curb Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions.

In a later interview with France 2 Television, Fabius confirmed that “around a hundred” French business leaders would be making a trip to Iran in September.

However, the visit was marred by a protest by Iranian hard-liners in Tehran who calling Fabius an “obstacle” because of France’s tough position during the nuclear negotiations.

Conservative Iranian politicians and media personalities have condemned Fabius, who they blame for sending HIV-infected blood supplies to Iran during his time in office as prime minister in the 1980s. “It is true that in recent years, for reasons that everyone knows, the ties have cooled but now thanks the nuclear deal, things will be able to change”, Fabius told reporters. Fabius, among other French officials, was charged with manslaughter but later acquitted.

“We’re going to see a loosening of isolation, particularly on the economic front”, he said.

Fabius, just back from the first visit to Iran by a French foreign minister for 12 years, said the feedback from Iranian ministers on Renault was positive.

Total SA was developing the giant South Pars natural gas project in Iran before sanctions forced Europe’s third-biggest oil company to pull out in 2009.

Al-Hayat quoted Iranian sources as saying Fabius discussed the stalled Lebanese presidential election with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif on his one-day visit to Tehran Wednesday.

Zarif said that the meeting had gone well.

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He said France’s approach had been “firm and constructive” to prevent nuclear proliferation, as an atomic energy programme “was not a trinket to be played with”. “There are a number of points on which we have differences”, Fabius said, alluding to regional conflicts in Syria and Yemen and also on Iran’s refusal to acknowledge Israel.

French foreign minister Laurent Fabius and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif arrive for a meeting in Tehran