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Iranian president bids for US investment Europe opens its arms — mostly — to Iranian leader Rouhani
(about 2 hours later)
ROME — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani invited American businessmen to join their European counterparts in investing in Iran as he wrapped up three days of multi-billion dollar deal-making in Italy by saying the lifting of European sanctions had opened a new era of “win-win” collaboration. PARIS — After years of tensions over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Europe is ushering in a new era of relations with the once-pariah state, welcoming Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to Italy and France with high expectations that he can set in motion lucrative business deals and regional peacemaking.
Rouhani heads next to Paris, where his originally scheduled visit was called off after the Nov. 13 attacks. But there’s also a note of caution, notably about Iran’s human rights record and geopolitical goals.
Rouhani told reporters that 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, Rouhani said freedom of expression “doesn’t mean offending that which is sacred to other people’s faith.” The end of economic sanctions after six nations struck a deal to curb Iran’s nuclear activities means the country of 80 million will soon be flush with funds, allowing Tehran to spend and, some Europeans hope, end its isolation from the West.
Francis was asked last year about the Charlie Hebdo attacks and suggested that a violent reaction could be expected when someone’s faith was insulted. He said while violence must be condemned, anyone who insults his mother can expect to be punched. The visits to Italy and France are also part of efforts by Iran to reach out to its old partners to balance its diplomatic reach with eastern partners like China and Russia.
Rouhani concurred and said Francis had told him the anecdote. While saying extremist violence must be condemned, “All religions are to be respected, their books and the millions of people who follow the faith,” Rouhani said. Insulting them, he said, “creates division and doesn’t help anyone.” Iran signed billions of euros in deals during Rouhani’s first stop in Italy — which also prompted controversy when officials covered up naked statues in a Rome museum in an apparent effort to avoid offending the Iranian leader. Italy’s culture minister called the move “incomprehensible.”
Rouhani’s visit was aimed at pushing Iran into a more prominent role on the world stage after the nuclear deal with Western powers ended most European economic sanctions on Tehran. At a press conference Wednesday in Rome, Rouhani invited American businessmen to join their European counterparts in investing in Iran and taking advantage of the new era of “win-win” collaboration after years of mutual losses.
H said that Europe and the U.S. had lost out as a result of the sanctions, but that now European countries were in a position to not only recover their traditional trading relationship but improve on it. Italy signed some 14 agreements representing billions of euros in deals in areas such as energy, industrial machinery, shipbuilding and transportation. “It’s possible, but the key is in Washington, not in Tehran,” he said. “At the same time today, if American investors and the heads of the American economy want to come to Iran and invest in my country, there are no problems from our point of view.”
Such a positive relationship could exist with the U.S. if Congress were to “end the tensions and hostility,” Rouhani said. Rouhani, a relative moderate elected in 2013, flew to France later Wednesday and was meeting with Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron and a group of French business leaders.
“It’s possible, but the key is in Washington, not in Tehran,” he said. “At the same today, if American investors and the heads of the American economy, if they want to come to Iran and invest in my country, there are no problems from our point of view.” He’s expected to oversee the signing Thursday of a bevy of contracts, including a possible deal with Airbus to renew Iran’s fleet of passenger jets as Tehran looks to push tourism. Iran’s aviation industry has suffered due to sanctions over the past three decades. Out of Iran’s 250 commercial planes, only about 150 are flying.
He added that it was in Washington’s interest to no longer isolate Iran given the geopolitical reality of the region, saying it shouldn’t be pressured by the Israeli and Jewish lobby, which he said “are very influential in the U.S.” Oil giant Total, engineering group Alstom and carmakers PSA Peugeot-Citroen and Renault-Nissan, with a past presence in Iran, are among companies that could clinch deals, too.
“The Americans know well the important regional questions, that without Iranian presence, without the Iranian contribution, without Iranian opinion, these questions will not be resolved,” he said. “The Middle East is a very sensitive, very delicate region. We hope that the Americans end the hostility and this enmity and rather than always look to the past let them look more to the future.” In Italy, the government and private companies inked more than a dozen accords with Iran covering the metals industry, oil services, rail transport and shipbuilding.
Decades of sanctions have starved the Iranian economy and isolated Iran. The last Iranian head of state to visit France was moderate President Hassan Khatami in 1999 — and he was the first since the 1979 Iranian revolution.
France showed its eagerness to take up where it left off in Iran as soon as the July nuclear deal was signed. Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius visited Tehran, as did an important delegation of France’s main business group, known as Medef.
Yet there are sticking points like Iran’s poor human rights record, which is marked by hundreds of executions. Iran is also an active supporter of the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who France firmly opposes.
France wants Iran to play a “positive role” in the Syrian war and become a partner in peace to resolve the conflict, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said.
Rouhani was originally scheduled to visit Paris in November but the trip was called off after Nov. 13 Islamic extremist attacks that killed 130 people.
Rouhani told reporters that 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.”
While saying that extremist violence must be condemned, the Iranian leader insisted that “all religions are to be respected, their books and the millions of people who follow the faith.”
Insulting them “creates division and doesn’t help anyone,” he added.
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Winfield contributed from Rome.
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Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.