Kerry says French business trip to Iran 'not helpful'February 5, 2014 - 15:19 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has told his French counterpart a trip to Iran by French business executives was "not helpful" and gave the wrong impression that Tehran was open for business as usual, a U.S. official said, according to Reuters. Under an interim deal reached between Iran and six world powers last November, Tehran agreed to limit parts of its nuclear program in exchange for the easing of some international sanctions. The relaxation in penalties has triggered a race among Western firms to explore lucrative business opportunities. On Monday, Feb 3, Iran welcomed more than 100 executives from France's biggest firms - Paris's most senior trade delegation in years. "Secretary Kerry has talked directly to Foreign Minister (Laurent) Fabius about the trade delegation ... about how this is not helpful in this regard to ensure that in fact it is not business as usual," Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman told a hearing of U.S. lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday. "Tehran is not open for business because our sanctions relief is quite temporary, quite limited and quite targeted," she added. No one at France's Foreign Ministry was immediately available to comment on Kerry's call with Fabius. France, the euro zone's second largest economy, has for months vaunted what it calls an "economic diplomacy" drive to secure trade agreements with other countries. However the Iran trip was a private initiative spearheaded by Medef, the French employers' association. The delegation on the February 2-5 trip met Mohammad Nahavandian, President Hassan Rouhani's chief of staff, and members of Iran's Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, IRNA said. Among the companies represented were Safran, Airbus, Total, GDF-Suez, Renault, Alcatel, Alstom, and L'Oréal, a source close to the delegation said. Related links: Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |