French FM to visit Iran next week

French Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Fabius on Tuesday said to fly to Iran next week, the first such visit in more than a decade, after a concluded nuclear deal opened Teheran's doors to westerners.

"I will be there next week. My colleague (Mohammad Javad Zarif) invited me. I was invited before but didn't go, but now I think everything is in place for me to go," Fabius told France Inter radio.

"I find it quite normal that from the moment this historic agreement took place, France and Iran can resume more normal relations," he said without giving accurate date.

Asked about eventual impact of France's tough stance on nuclear talks on potential business deals of French firms in Teheran, Fabius said "in foreign policy, I think you lose nothing in being respected."

Unlike German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, the first western official who visited Teheran with big delegation of business leaders, French top diplomat said to visit Iran as "politician," without taking with him the country's main companies.

A delegation from Medef, France's main business employers group, will visit Tehran at the end of September, according to Fabius. Endit