By DPA
Tehran : An Iranian spokesman Sunday said there would be no obstacle to a proposed visit to Tehran by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.
“We see no obstacles for his trip and believe that such visits would even help clarify the realities in Iran and the region,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini told reporters here.
Kouchner had voiced interest in visiting Tehran to clarify comments he made last week that were widely interpreted as sabre rattling against Iran.
The French minister Friday also contacted Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and, according to Iran’s state television, extended his regrets over the media interpretation of his comments. He said he meant to adopt ways to prevent war.
“There have indeed been some contradictory remarks by French officials indicating some extremism in their positions,” Hosseini said.
“But these positions have in the meantime been modified and France seems not to want further tensions,” the spokesman added.
Hosseini refrained from direct reply to a reporter who asked whether France’s insistence on another United Nations Security Council resolution against Iran within the context of the nuclear dispute would affect France-Iran political and economic relations.
“We see the issue within a whole package and will act in accordance with our national interests,” the spokesman said without giving details.
Iran and France have fostered close political ties as well as economic ties in the fields of oil exploration and the automobile industry.