Stringent Iranian restrictions on nuclear inspections

“On both sides we want to develop our ties to set a new direction”, he said, confirming Hollande’s invitation to Rouhani.

Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh says Iran welcomes French energy giant Total’s return to the resource-rich country amid Tehran’s drive to step up oil and gas development projects after the removal of sanctions.

Peugeot Chief Executive Carlos Tavares said on Wednesday talks on a manufacturing venture with Iran’s biggest carmaker were being undermined by anti-French sentiment.

“I have a letter from the president of my country Francois Hollande in which he is inviting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to visit France in November”, Fabius said, as quoted by the ISNA news agency.

He also hit out at Fabius over French support for now executed dictator Saddam Hussein’s Iraq during its 1980-88 war with Iran and over his “hard” position during the negotiations for this month’s nuclear deal. “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.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius (L) and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, arrive for a meeting in Tehran, July 29, 2015.

“We are two great, independent countries.

It is mentioned in the deal that inspectors should be from countries that have diplomatic relations with Islamic republic of Iran“.

“Meeting w/ @LaurentFabius. Iran-France had invaluable coop in past”.

He has also been criticised over his role in a tainted blood scandal that killed hundreds of Iranians in the 1980s.

The last Iranian president to make a state visit to France was Mohammad Khatami in 1999, when Jacques Chirac was president.

Prior to her visit, Mogherini wrote in Britain’s Guardian newspaper that EU foreign ministers had asked her to explore ways in which the bloc could promote a more cooperative regional framework involving Iran following the nuclear agreement between Terhan and world powers.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said in a statement: “If Iran adheres to its commitments under the comprehensive deal and sanctions are lifted, then the UK government will help business take advantage of the opportunities that arise”.

Iranian Health Minister Hassan Hashemi said the blood scandal was a separate legal dispute and Fabius’s trip should go ahead. “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.