Iran, France to sign 20 deals, including Airbus purchase, within hours

But in an apparent reference to the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, attacked by extremists a year ago for lampooning the Prophet Muhammad, Rouhani said freedom of expression “doesn’t mean offending that which is sacred to other people’s faith”. “We will sign an agreement with Total (this) afternoon”, he said, without elaborating. Ghasseminejad specializes in Iran’s economy and politics and the effects of terrorism and political unrest on financial markets. Rouhani says his first visit to Europe… French officials said the final details were still being worked out, according to Reuters. Iran said those programs were peaceful but critics feared it wanted to build nuclear weapons.

He was responding to a question about how Iran can contribute to restoring order in Middle East. A near-naked woman from the Femen movement dangled from a rope under a Seine footbridge in a simulated hanging.

Iran is second only to China in its use of the death penalty.

The historic Denfert-Rochereau Square in the center of Paris is covered with thousands of people waving yellow signs and three colored Iranian flag call for end to executions in Iran.

Iranian and French Foreign Ministers Javad Zarif (L) and Laurent Fabius sign an agreement with Iranian and French Presidents Hassan Rouhani and Francois Hollande standing behind them in Paris, Jan. 28, 2016.

That comes after President Barack Obama and Western leaders gave Iran a nuclear deal that dropped sanctions against the Islamic regime.

Iran’s industry minister Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh said an agreement between French export-credit group Coface and the Iranian central bank signed this week was an important step in the right direction.

“France is available for Iran”, he said.

The deal will see Peugeot work with Iranian manufacturer Khodro, with the first vehicles expected to roll off the production line in 2017. For revamping the 50 years old factory near Teheran, both sides agreed to invest 400 million euros (435 million dollars) in the next five years for building Peugeot’s 208 hatchback, 301 sedan and 2008 crossover.

But Rouhani denied he had asked his Italian hosts to cover up the statues and Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini, who accompanied Rouhani on the museum trip, called the move “incomprehensible”.

Mr Rouhani is also meeting on Thursday with the chief of Unesco, the Paris-based UN cultural body, and speaking to high-level French executives whose companies are interested in resuming trade with his long-isolated nation of 80 million people.

The French president emphasized the urgency of negotiating a political solution to Syria’s civil war, saying “we urgently need to put in place humanitarian measures and negotiate a political transition”.

The trip came a matter of weeks after a landmark accord was reached between Tehran and six world powers to curb Iran’s nuclear activity. However, France is now weighing new sanctions over Iranian ballistic missile tests.