Fabius echoed the upbeat sentiment, saying, “Today is the launch of a new chapter in Tehran-Paris relations, and the prospect for the relations is quite positive following the nuclear deal“.
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Also, Zanganeh told reporters he and Fabius highlighted the necessity of boosting oil and gas cooperation and the French side has indicated its keen interest in taking part in Iran’s petrochemical projects.
He has also come under criticism from Iranian media, earning the nickname “the obstacle” in the ultimately successful talks. Many conservative newspapers have brought up the case ahead of his diplomatic visit to Iran, publishing cartoons showing him with blood on his hands.
“It is true that in the past few years, for reasons everybody knows, ties have been weaker”.
Around the time of his arrival at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran a small group of protesters carried placards criticizing Fabius for his role in a tainted blood scandal that killed hundreds of Iranians in the 1980s.
The slogans related to the French National Blood Transfusion Centre, which decades ago exported products contaminated with the AIDS virus.
Fabius, along with former Social Affairs Minister Georgina Dufoix and former Health Minister Edmond Herve, were charged in 1999 with manslaughter.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency said some protesters who had been asked to end their demonstration were briefly arrested.
Zarif said in a televised news conference, “We began good discussions to reach regional cooperation in the fight against terrorism and extremism”.
According to IRNA, a French delegation of economic and business officials and operators will visit Tehran in September to explore business opportunities in the Iranian market after the sanctions are lifted.
Fabius took a particularly tough line with Iran ahead of the deal.
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. Western nations have long suspected Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons alongside its civilian atomic program, allegations denied by Tehran, which insists its nuclear activities are entirely peaceful.
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A senior UAE official said that EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who visited Iran this week, failed to understand Iran’s aims and her praise for the commitment shown by its negotiators in nuclear talks appeared misplaced. He said the agreement also aims at preventing “nuclear proliferation among other regional countries so that no one even thinks about having a nuclear bomb.”
