Nearly naked Femen protester ‘hangs’ from Paris bridge during Iran president visit

The stunt was a protest against Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to the French capital. “I want this relationship to be useful to our two countries, to the region, to the world”.

Issues for Iran include the death penalty and the abuse of rights of women and minorities, while the state of emergency declared by Hollande after Islamist militant attacks in Paris on November 13 past year threaten rights to liberty and freedom of movement in France, it said.

During their meeting in Paris, Hollande and Rohani said they also had addressed the situation in Syria.

His visit after a stop-off in Rome for more deals follows an agreement between Iran and the west on the Middle-Eastern country’s nuclear program, and the resultant lifting of western sanctions this month.

Iran will buy 73 long-haul and 45 medium-haul Airbus passenger planes and set up a joint venture with French car-maker Peugeot Citroen. Much of Iran’s civilian hardware – from planes to cars to railways – is old or out of action. He did not elaborate. The European Union also did not address whether France had asked for a review. “We Europeans, we are following the Iranian agenda”.

Another deal will pave the way for a joint venture between French vehicle manufacturer Peugeot Citroen and the Iranian firm Khodro. Peugeot was a major player in Iran’s auto market before the sanctions were imposed.

Iranian FM Zarif and his French counterpart Laurent Fabius signed the first MoU which is a roadmap for strengthening ties between Tehran and Paris, Iranian media reported.

Another key basic deal was a framework agreement that Iran signed with Total over the purchase of crude oil.

The first visit to Paris by an Iranian leader this century was greeted by a near-naked woman protester dangling from a rope, an avalanche of trade deals and no official lunch.

In Tehran, Civil Aviation Organisation deputy director Mohammad Khodakarami said that British Airways, Air France and KLM had all expressed interest in resuming direct flights after five years. “The country is not starting from scratch”.

He explained that socio-political security, rich energy resources, educated workforce, and good relations with regional countries make Iran an interesting place for investment.

The France outreach trip faced some strains. However, France is now weighing new sanctions over Iranian ballistic missile tests.

And the multibillion-dollar deals have stirred opposition from rights groups and activists. The protest Thursday by feminist group Femen is calling attention to the large number of executions in Iran.

Hassan Rouhani, speaking at French think tank IFRI on a trip to Paris, said “our nation has shouldered such a heavy weight through all these years, accepting 3 million migrants without complaining”. There are still almost 1 million Afghan refugees in Iran today.

Information for this article was contributed by Elaine Ganley, Sylvie Corbet, Angela Charlton, Danica Kirka, Raf Casert, George Jahn and Nasser Karimi of The Associated Press; and by Brian Murphy of The Washington Post.