Air France to Resume Flights to Iran Starting in April

Air France-KLM announced on Tuesday, December 8, that it will resume flights to Iran in April 2016, after an eight-year hiatus. According to Reuters, this announcement is a new sign of improving relations between Iran and France, five months after the signing of the nuclear agreement between Tehran and six world powers in Vienna. Air France-KLM stated that it plans to operate three flights per week to Tehran starting in April. Air France flights to Tehran were operational from 1964 until October 2008, when they were suspended for economic reasons. The company’s statement noted, 'Air France is looking to expand its operations in a country with dynamic growth, and that the European Union is Iran's fourth-largest trading partner.' France has a long history of political, economic, and social ties with Iran, and in 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, resided in Neauphle-le-Château near Paris for several months. However, during the negotiations of the P5+1 group, of which France is a member, Paris took one of the toughest stances regarding Iran's nuclear program. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius stated after the success of the Vienna negotiations that his country's positions would not affect trade relations with Iran. International sanctions against Iran are expected to be lifted at the beginning of this year, and French officials anticipate that economic relations between the two countries in the aviation and automotive sectors will quickly flourish. Iran and France's trade relations were valued at over $4.2 billion in 2004, but this figure dropped to $500 million in 2013. A French delegation, including two government ministers and 150 business owners, visited Iran in September of this year to prepare the ground for expanding economic relations between the two countries following the lifting of sanctions.