France and Iran maintain international relations. Iran has generally enjoyed a friendly relationship with France since the Middle Ages. The travels of Jean-Baptiste Tavernier to Safavid Persia are particularly well known. France has an embassy in Tehran and Iran has an embassy in Paris.
Recently, however, relations have soured over Iran's refusal to halt uranium enrichment, France supporting the referral of Iran to the United Nations Security Council, and the 2026 Iran war.
Safavid era
In the 16th and 17th centuries, Persia tried to obtain support among European nations against the expansionism of the Portuguese and the neighbouring Ottoman Empire. Since France was tied into an Ottoman alliance, however, the Persian embassy to Europe of 1599–1602 and the Persian embassy to Europe of 1609–1615 avoided France.
First contact was established in the 1620s when French Catholics became interested in the cause of foreign missions, especially after the foundation of the Propaganda Fides. In 1627, a Capuchin mission under Pacifique de Provins was dispatched to Persia and was able to establish good relations with Shah Abbas, persuading him to reverse long-standing Anti-Christian laws, especially for Catholics in Iran. At the same time, trade relations were slowly established and the French trader Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605–1689) is known to have been as far as Isfahan circa 1632.
Relations took an official turn under Louis XIV and Colbert, when Colbert founded the French East India Company in 1664, and subsequently asked Lalain and Laboulaye to go to Ispahan to promote French interests in Persia.Iradj Amini, p.16 The Shah welcomed them as he was delighted to be given an opportunity to counterbalance English and Dutch influence in his country. He provided a three-year exemption from customs duties, and gave France the same privileges as other countries. Further, a trading post was given to France in Bandar Abbas.Iradj Amini, p.17
Another French trader Jean Chardin (1643–1715) visited Persia and received the patronage of the Safavid monarch Shah Abbas II and his son Shah Suleiman I. Chardin returned to France in 1670. The following year, he published an account of Le Couronnement de Soleïmaan (English translation: The Coronation of Shah Soleiman). He again visited Persia between 1673 and 1680.
Numerous trade contacts continued to occur between Persia (modern Iran) and France. In 1705, Louis XIV dispatched an Ambassador Extraordinary in the person of Jean-Baptiste Fabre, accompanied by a party including Jacques Rousseau, uncle of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and a woman named Marie Petit, who owned a gaming house, probably also a brother, in Paris. Fabre died in Persia, but negotiations were taken over by Pierre-Victor Michel, leading to a largely ineffective signed in September 1708.Iradj Amini, p.19 Prior to that he had to sideline Marie Petit who, "in the name of the Princesses of France", tried to persuade the shah to recognize her as France's sole legitimate representative.
Wishing to reinforce exchanges, the Shah sent a Persian embassy to Louis XIV in 1715, led by Mohammad Reza Beg. The embassy visited king Louis XIV and obtained a new treaty of alliance signed in Versailles on 13 August 1715.Iradj Amini, p.22 Contact was then interrupted with the fall of the Safavid Empire in 1722 and the subsequent troubles, until the end of the century.Iradj Amini, pp.23-24
Impressed by the Persian visits, the French author Montesquieu wrote a fictional account about Persia, the Lettres persanes (English: "Persian Letters"), in 1721.
Qajar Era
Attempts to resume contact were made following the French Revolution, as France was in conflict with Russia and wished to find an ally against that country. In 1796, two scientists, Jean-Guillaume Bruguières and Guillaume-Antoine Olivier, were sent to Persia by the Directoire, but were unsuccessful in obtaining an agreement.Amini, p.6
A Franco-Persian alliance was formed for a short period between the French Empire of Napoleon I and the Persian Empire of Fath Ali Shah against Russia and Great Britain between 1807 and 1809. The alliance was part of Napoleon's plan to create another front on Russia's southern borders, as Iran and Russia were directly bordering each other there in the Caucasus region. Furthermore, the Iranian king was involved in a territorial dispute with the Russian tsar following its annexation of Georgia, which had been intermittently part of Iran since the mid 16th century. The alliance unravelled when France finally allied with Russia and turned its focus to European campaigns, and dropped its support during the Russo-Persian War (1804-1813), which eventually turned out into an Iranian defeat and huge irrevocable territorial losses, comprising modern-day Georgia, Dagestan, and most of the contemporary Republic of Azerbaijan.Timothy C. Dowling Russia at War: From the Mongol Conquest to Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Beyond p 728 ABC-CLIO, 2 dec. 2014 Napoleon and Persia: Franco-Persian Relations Under the First Empire, by Iradj Amini, Mage Publishers, 1 Jan 1999
Diplomatic relations with France resumed in 1839 following a dispute between Great Britain and Persia over the Iranian city of Herat. Great Britain would remove its military and diplomatic missions from Persia, occupy Kharg Island, and attack Bushehr. Mohammad Shah Qajar would in turn resume diplomatic relations with France, and send a diplomatic mission to Louis-Philippe under Mirza Hossein Khan to obtain military help. In response, a group of French officers was sent to Persia with the returning ambassador. The renewed French representation at the royal court resulted also in renewed missionary activity in Iran, primarily by the Lazarists, who opened hospitals, schools and orphanages.
Pahlavi Era
France had close economic collaboration with Iran during the Pahlavi era, especially with numerous contracts related to public works.
Islamic Republic of Iran
Nuclear program Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, France refused to continue to provide Iran with enriched uranium, which it needed for its nuclear program. Tehran also did not get its investment back from the Eurodif joint stock company formed in 1973 by France, Belgium, Spain and Sweden. In 1975 Sweden's 10% share in Eurodif went to Iran as a result of an arrangement between France and Iran. The French government subsidiary company Cogéma and Tehran established the Sofidif (Société Franco–iranienne pour l’enrichissement de l’uranium par diffusion gazeuse) firm with 60% and 40% shares, respectively. In turn, Sofidif acquired a 25% share in EURODIF, which gave Iran its 10% share of Eurodif. Reza Shah Pahlavi lent 1 billion dollars (and another 180 million dollars in 1977) for the construction of the Eurodif factory, to have the right of buying 10% of the production of the site.
In 1982, president François Mitterrand, who had been elected the year before, refused to give any uranium to Iran, which also claimed the $1 billion debt. In 1986, Eurodif manager Georges Besse was assassinated; the act was allegedly claimed by left-wing militants from Action Directe. However, they denied any responsibility during their trial. In their investigation La République atomique, France-Iran le pacte nucléaire, David Carr-Brown and Dominique Lorentz pointed to the Iranian intelligence services' responsibility. They also claimed that the French hostage scandal was connected to the Iranian blackmail. Finally an agreement was reached in 1991: France refunded more than 1.6 billion dollars. Iran remained shareholder of Eurodif via Sofidif, a Franco-Iranian consortium shareholder to 25% of Eurodif. However, Iran refrained from asking for the produced uranium.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported in February 2023 concerns over undeclared modifications at Iran's Fordow nuclear site, which enriches uranium to 60 percent, a step below weapons grade. This development is inconsistent with Iran's obligations under its Safeguards Agreement and undermines the IAEA's ability to implement effective safeguards measures.
Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988) Furthermore, with the United States and other countries, France supported Saddam Hussein in the war against Iran (1980–1988). Saddam's air force included dozens of Dassault Mirage F1s, Dassault-Breguet Super Étendards, and Aérospatiale Gazelles, among other weaponry. Iraqi military purchases from France totaled $5.5 Billion in 1985, prompting U.S. Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, and chairman of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, to declare France's selling of military equipment to Iraq as "international treason"."French connection armed Saddam." Bill Gertz, The Washington Times, September 8, 2004.
The French were concerned that their support for Iraq would harm their relations with Iran, but their economic and commercial interests in Iraq were too important. The French military reinforced their naval presence in the Gulf in response to Iranian threats of deteriorating relations. France's history with Baghdad goes back decades. France was extremely popular in the Middle East after their public stance of neutrality in the Six-Day War. General de Gaulle invoked symbolic references of the cooperation between Charlemagne and the Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid, promising Soviet-aligned Iraq with French cooperation at a time when Iraq was politically isolated from the West as a consequence of Cold War tensions. The French companies Berliet, Saviem and Panhard began selling military vehicles to the Iraqi army. Saddam Hussein visited France in 1972 to officially finalize the agreements of petroleum cooperation between the two countries following nationalization of the Iraqi oil industry. Hussein gave the French a list of weapons desired by the Iraqi military including radars, helicopters and fighter planes.Razoux, P. (2015). The Iran–Iraq War. (n.p.): Harvard University Press.
Paris and Baghdad grew closer and closer. By the end of the 1970s over 65 French companies were operating in Iraq. The Bouygues group had built underground shelters for the Iraqi army. They sold Iraq missiles and other war equipment. Relations with Iran were, on the other hand, primarily limited to cultural exchanges. France recognized the Shah as friendly overall, but condemned the regime's authoritarian streak. Tehran was considered firmly within the American and British sphere and Paris was less interested in Tehran then Baghdad because it could not sell French weapons to Iran. They did develop other commercial ties including for nuclear equipment and in 1974 the French government entered into an agreement to sell Iran nuclear power stations. The Shah gave France a one billion dollar loan for a 10% share in Eurodif allowing Iran to purchase 10% of the enriched uranium produced by the Tricastin plant.
France remained committed to the recognition of the Palestinian people's rights. When the Ayatollah Khomeini was expelled from Iran, the French government granted him political asylum, but later Khomeini returned to take power after the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The Islamic government withdrew from nuclear cooperation agreements with France and a dispute over the Eurodif partnership greatly damaged ties between the two nations. When François Mitterrand was elected in May 1981 he sent Hussein public messages of French support. Iraq was regarded as an example of secular, progressive and modernist values contrasted with Iran's conservatism. Claude Cheysson states that "Iraq is the only barrier to an Islamic onslaught that would destabilize the entire region and topple the moderate Arab regimes."
2003 raid on the People's Mujahedin of Iran