Political relations

The most recent bilateral visits of political leaders occurred during the first half of 2005:
  The French President and the Minister received the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Hojatoleslam Hassan Rohani, on 24 February 2005.
  President Khatami met with the French President in Paris on 5 April 2005, on the sidelines of a conference at UNESCO, where he gave an address on the dialogue between civilizations. The Minister received his Iranian counterpart, Mr. Kamal Kharrazi, who was accompanying the Iranian President.
  Mr. Xavier Darcos, the Minister Delegate for Cooperation, Development and Francophony, went to Tehran and Bam on 22-23 May 2005.

To strengthen our bilateral relations, Iran must respond to our various concerns (proliferation crises, attitude with regard to the Near East, human rights violations, etc.). In order to be able to create the conditions necessary for expanding and improving relations between our two countries, we need to regain trust in terms of nuclear issues.

The successive declarations made by the Iranian President promoting the destruction of Israel and negating the Nazi genocide are unacceptable. They have been strongly condemned by the French President as well as by the Minister. Iran’s ambassador was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 27 October regarding this matter. The French government has expressed its concerns to the Iranian government about the human rights situation in Iran. On 12 December 2005, the Prime Minister awarded the French Human Rights Prize to the wife of Mr. Emadeddin Baqi, an Iranian dissident who fights for prisoners’ rights and against the death penalty in Iran. In the context of its policy supporting defenders of human rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Iranian chargé d’affaires to Paris in August 2005 to express its concerns regarding the fate of journalist, Akbar Gandji, and his lawyer, Mr. Soltani (who was awarded the French Human Rights Prize in December 2003 on behalf of the Human Rights Defence Centre, of which Ms. Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, is the President).

In the context of a diplomatic movement concerning some sixty Iranian ambassadors, Iran’s Ambassador in Paris, Mr. Sadegh Kharrazi, ceased to hold office on 22 November 2005. His successor has yet to be named.