IRAN

French, German ministers plan Iran visits after nuclear deal

Europe is mulling its return to Iran after a nuclear deal paved the way to reopen trade ties. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has said he will visit Tehran, following in his German counterpart's tracks.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced on Wednesday that he planned to make an official visit to Iran, following the ratification the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action over the Iran's nuclear capabilities.

Fabius said in a radio interview that his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif extended an invitation following the conclusion of the negotiations.

"I told him that I will go to Iran, so I will go to Iran," Fabius told Europe 1 radio, adding that he had not yet set a date for a possible trip.

Even prior to Tuesday's accord being officially reached in Vienna, Fabius had already written in newspaper "Le Monde" that he would "quite possibly" visit Iran soon.

After the talks' conclusion on Tuesday, Fabius's German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier had told reporters that he was also hoping to visit Tehran.

"I will certainly travel to Iran, but I don't have concrete travel plans yet," Steinmeier told Reuters on Tuesday.

Sigmar Gabriel to visit this week?

Germany's Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, also deputy chancellor and leader of the Social Democats, was reportedly set to hop on the bandwagon to Iran as early as Sunday.

The reports, citing business insiders, first circulated in the German press on Tuesday evening; on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Gabriel's ministry told reporters that while such a trip was under consideration, nothing was yet confirmed.

"There is a great interest on the side of German industry to normalize and strengthen economic ties with Iran - even more so after the nuclear agreement with Iran," said the spokeswoman.

Huge potential for business

In Wednesday's interview, Laurent Fabius stressed there could be "significant opportunities" for French companies following the reintegration of Iran into the international community after sanctions are lifted.

"Trade is very important, it allows growth," Fabius said. "This is very important for the Iranians, and it's very important for us."

Fabius said that he and French President Francois Hollande did not support the agreement with Iran for purely commercial reasons. "We supported it for strategic reasons, because we wanted to prevent nuclear proliferation and we know that if we came to an agreement, a really solid agreement, we could avoid this proliferation."

Iran, a country with more than 80 million people and rich oil resources, could prove a major market for companies like Renault, Volkswagen, Siemens, or Total.

After the sanctions, European industry moves in

France's trade with Iran under the Western sanctions regime dropped to 500 million euros in 2013, eight times lower than before UN sanctions were put in place in 2006, according to a report from the French Senate. German exports to Iran fell from a high of 4.4 billion euros in 2005 to 1.8 billion euros by 2013.

Germany's BDI, an industry umbrella association, predicted that Germany could do 10 billion euros of deals in the medium term with Iran, up from 2.4 billion euros last year, with huge potential for the car, chemicals, healthcare and renewable energy industries.

Even during the sanctions regime, Iran's major commercial partners, according to the International Monetary Fund, were China, India, and Germany.

The UN Security Council is set to vote next week on whether they will lift Iran sanctions. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to fight against this rapprochement, calling the JCPOA a "stunning, historic mistake."

Steinmier, in turn, was critical of Israel's stance, saying Netanyahu had argued that any Iran deal would be a bad one. "This is a responsible deal and Israel should also take a closer look at it, and not criticise the agreement in a very coarse way," Steinmeier told German broadcaster ARD.

mes/msh (AFP, dpa, Reuters)