He prolonged an invite from French President François Hollande to his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani to go to Paris in November.
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If taken up, the trip would be Rouhani’s first to France as president.
Several Iranian lawmakers, including Chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi, believe that Fabius, during his visit, should tender an official apology for tainted, diseased and infected “emergency” blood supplies given to Iran while he was the country’s prime minister.
More than 100 representatives from the body travelled to Iran early last year, triggering anger in the US which said it was still too early to do business with Tehran.
Fabius was speaking after a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif and was due to meet Rouhani later on Wednesday. “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”, he said.
He also officially submitted French President Francois Hollande’s invitation to Rouhani to visit France next November.
“The political talks which were restricted to the nuclear issue were extended to other areas, including campaign against extremism and terrorism as well as cooperation in environment and nuclear fields”, Zarif said.
He added that his company seeks liquefied natural gas (LNG) and oil projects in Iran.
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. German economy minister Sigmar Gabriel was the first top Western official to rush to Iran following the nuclear agreement.
Fabius as a France’s chief diplomat in the nuclear negotiations, enjoyed a good reputation for taking a hawkish public stance on what Iran must do under an agreement to end the dispute over its nuclear programme.
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France’s hosting of Iran’s late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini during his exile in the 1970s facilitated France’s economic dealings with the Islamic Republic.
