After losing Iraq to the US, France goes after Iran

From No Pasaran

One of the hallmarks of Gaullist foreign policy is the willingness to fill in the gaps left by the American strategic posture. France has often been eager to set up shop where US companies either fear to tread or are barred from operating: Burma, Iran, Iraq, Libya are a few examples. The IHT has run a story on Franco-Iranian relations that is to appear in to-morrow's New York Times. In it, Borzou Daragahi reports that

French companies have been increasing their presence here in the past few years. New Peugeots and Citroëns flood crowded highways and streets. French business people dine in the capital's restaurants and work on Gulf oil platforms. Air France resumed flights to Tehran this month after a seven-year hiatus. And the carmaker Renault is about to make the first large-scale, long-term direct investment in the country by a French company since the 1979 revolution that toppled the pro-American Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.

This represents quite a change as, since the Iran Iraq war, France had, for long periods, been unwelcome in Iran because of its support for Saddam. But back then this did not prevent France from at least trying to establish relations.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------