France, European partners ready for cooperation with Iran, says Elysee Palace
Elysee Palace said in a statement on Tuesday that the French president in a phone conversation with President Hassan Rouhani made clear that the French Government and European Union States are keen on cooperation with Tehran.
Berlin announced last week that Britain, France and Germany sent medical equipment to Iran in the framework of INSTEX late in March, the French daily Le Figaro said on Tuesday.
INSTEX is the acronym for Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges which is a trade mechanism set up by Britain, France and Germany to facilitate financial transactions with Iran after the US withdrawal from a 2015 nuclear deal, JCPOA.
According to Le Figaro, Elysee said in a statement that the French President Emanuel Macron, in the phone conversation with the Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani yesterday evening, expressed sympathy with Iranian people who have been affected by coronavirus pandemic and made it clear that France and its European partners were ready for cooperation with Iran.
Rouhani, for his part, stressed: INSTEX must not be restricted to medical equipment and food; we should be able to supply all the demands of our country through this channel.
Wishing the French government and nation as well as the world success in fighting coronavirus pandemic, Rouhani said that all the countries should note that they will not be able to leave behind the critical humanitarian situation without using each other's experiences.
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