President Hassan Rouhani received on Sunday President of French Senate Gerard Larcher who is visiting Tehran. President Rouhani emphasized that Iran and France should grasp the opportunities created in post-JCPOA times to boost bilateral ties in fields of interest. He believed Iran-France cooperation during nuclear negotiation and hitting the JCPOA would provide good level of dynamism to Tehran-Paris relations; “exchange of delegations in both capitals well demonstrated that the nuclear deal was a prologue to more improved relations and cooperation between two countries,” he said.
Rouhani also highlighted inter-parliamentary cooperation as strengthening pillars of bilateral relations; “Iran and France have been working together in different fields of interest and today the opportunities created by easing of sanctions on Iranian economy should be exploited,” Mr. Rouhani told Larcher. He conditioned implementation of commitments provisioned in the JCPOA on the commitment shown by 5+1. “JCPOA clearly provided an example of modern diplomacy which was fit to solve conflict through negotiated agreement, which sets a precedent for other international similar issues.”
Turning to French terrorist attacks in November, Rouhani offered condolences to French people and government and the families of the victims as well; “the Paris attacks showed that terrorism is a grave threat to all nations; we hope that the perpetrators of the Paris attacks soon are brought to justice,” he emphasized.
President said that the single most critical issue of the region and the globe was terrorist groups spreading violence and terror, believing that Iran and France should exchange ideas and experiences in important regional and international issues. “Today, Al-Qaeda and ISIL have an ambition to rule the whole region; this is a real danger to the globe and all powers should cooperate to stop the further strengthening of the terrorist groups,” president told French official.
“Oil and drugs provide terrorist groups with much of their income; reducing the financial capabilities of the terrorist groups would eventually bring about their defeat; however, some countries provide terrorists with arms and resources and these countries are readily identifiable in the region,” Rouhani pointed out.
Rouhani also hailed the recent conference on climate change, dubbed by many as ‘historic deal’ in controlling global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius annually; “the Islamic Republic of Iran as one of the largest natural energy reservoirs and renewable energies as well, welcomes cooperation with any country to protect the environment using cutting-edge technology currently in vogue,” he added.
Gerard Larcher for his part expressed gratitude for Rouhani’s offer of condolence on Paris attacks; “French government and people highly regard your visit to Paris which we hope will be in a near future; reports and achievements presented by French businessmen and industry moguls from visiting Iran reveals excellent grounds to improve economic relations inside Iran,” he told the meeting. Larcher lavished praise on Iran’s long history and civilization, but turning to nuclear negotiations, believed that trust in commitment to obligations by both sides should be mutual in order to accomplish the objectives set by the JCPOA.
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