Iran: France asks EU partners for new sanctions on Iran

France has asked its European Union partners to consider new sanctions on Iran for its recent missile tests, officials have told The Associated Press, even as Paris welcomed the president of the Islamic Republic, which is flush with funds from the lifting of other sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program.

The ambiguous signals emerging Wednesday from France came as President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate elected in 2013, signed billions of dollars in business deals on an before stop in Italy and met with Pope Francis in the initial such Iranian foray into Europe since 1999.

France hopes for similarly lucrative deals during Rouhani's two-day visit, along with regional peacemaking efforts as the once-pariah national emerges from decades of isolation.

But amid the courting of Iran, two officials from EU nations told AP that the request for new sanctions came in a little while next the EU and the US lifted sanctions on Tehran on Jan. 16 in exchange for UN certification that Iran had scaled back its nuclear programs. Iran said those programs were peaceful but critics feared it wanted to build nuclear weapons.

The two officials said the French request came next the United States had imposed new sanctions on Iran over the firing of a medium-range ballistic missile.

The two officials said the French proposition is formally under EU review, but most other EU members view it as counterproductive to efforts to revive political and economic ties with Iran next the long chill over the nuclear dispute. The officials, who were briefed on the issue, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue publicly.

The French government did not respond to AP requests for comment by late Wednesday. In an email to AP, the European Union as well did not address whether France had asked for a review.

A French diplomat who spoke only on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly on the topic cited Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius as saying the EU is reviewing the possibility of new sanctions on Iran. He declined to say which country initiated the process.

Disclosure that the French asked for such a review — even if it is from presently on unsuccessful — could complicate Rouhani's low-key visit. About 20 accords between companies and ministries were to be signed Thursday, the French president's office said.

Paris as well wants to draw Tehran into a role as peacemaker in a Middle East that is fraught with civil war in Syria, where Iran has played an active role in support of President Bashar Assad, and in Yemen.

There was little fanfare in France for the new era being ushered in for Iran as Rouhani works to help his country of 80 million emerge from isolation and raise its profile in the West, balancing ties with Russia and China. His Paris visit will be marked by a two-hour conference with President Francois Hollande and ministers.

France, which has deep ties with Arab nations, as well conducts a balancing act in the region. Last week, Fabius visited Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia, Iran's fierce rival, and Paris will in a little while welcome the Saudi crown prince.

While Shiite powerhouse Iran actively supports the Assad government in Syria, Saudi Arabia — like France — firmly opposes him, and supports rebel groups.

Tensions recently escalated with Saudi Arabia breaking ties with Iran next its embassy in Tehran was mobbed by crowds protesting the execution in Saudi Arabia of a prominent Shiite cleric and opposition figure.

France is trying "to relieve tensions by speaking to everyone, which is our vocation," said a ranking French diplomat ahead of Rouhani's arrival. He was not authorized to speak publicly about the visit and asked to remain anonymous.

Iran's human rights record, inclunding hundreds of executions, adds an extra note of caution for France which presses for the abolition of the death penalty worldwide.

For its part, Iran could raise the issue of France harboring the headquarters of the majority organized Iranian opposition group, the People's Mujahedeen of Iran — which planned a Thursday demonstration against Rouhani.

Both nations clearly are opting for pragmatism.

Rouhani was expected to oversee the signing of contracts, inclunding a possible transaction with Airbus to renew Iran's fleet of passenger jets. Iran's aviation industry has suffered under sanctions in the completed three decades, and of 250 commercial jetliners, only about 150 are flying.

Oil giant Total, engineering group Alstom and carmakers PSA Peugeot-Citroen and Renault-Nissan, with a completed presence in Iran, are part companies that could clinch deals, too.

The Italian government and private companies inked additional than a dozen accords with Iran covering the metals industry, oil services, rail transport and shipbuilding.

France showed its eagerness to take up where it left off in Iran as any minute at this time as the July nuclear transaction was signed. Fabius visited Tehran, as did an significant delegation of France's major business group, known as Medef, where Rouhani will address business leaders Thursday.

Rouhani was originally scheduled to visit Paris in November, but the trip was called off next Nov. 13 Islamic extremist attacks that killed 130 people.

Rouhani said he and Pope Francis discussed the need for religious leaders to speak out against extremism and terrorism during their audience Tuesday. 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." (bbn)

Jahn reported from Vienna. Associated Press writers Sylvie Corbet and Angela Charlton in Paris and John-Thor Dahlburg and Raf Casert in Brussels contributed.
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