Франция-Иран қарым-қатынастары: Тарих және қазіргі жағдай

French–Iranian relations are the international relations between France and Iran. Iran has generally enjoyed a friendly relationship with France since the Middle Ages. The travels of Jean Baptiste Tavernier are particularly well known to Safavid Persia. 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 and France supporting the referral of Iran to the United Nations Security Council.

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. A Capuchin mission was however established in Ispahan under Pacifique de Provins in 1627. Trade contacts however existed, 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. 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. 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, 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 an embassy in 1715, led by Mohammad Reza Beg, the Persian embassy to Louis XIV. The embassy visited king Louis XIV and obtained a new treaty of alliance signed in Versailles on 13 August 1715. Contact was then interrupted with the fall of the Safavid Empire in 1722 and the subsequent troubles, until the end of the century. Impressed by the Persian visits, the French author Montesquieu wrote a fictional account about Persia, the Lettres persanes, in 1721.

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. 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. 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 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.

Furthermore, with the United States and other countries, France supported Saddam Hussein in the war against Iran (1980–1988). Saddam's airforce 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". Jacques Chirac helped sell Saddam the two nuclear reactors that started Baghdad on the path to nuclear weapons capability. By 2000, France had become Iraq's largest supplier of military and dual use equipment, according to a senior member of Congress who reportedly declined to be identified. 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 reached 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. 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 they 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. while US Senator Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas accused the French of doing "the Iranian government's dirty work". Along with other congressmen, he wrote a letter of protest to President Jacques Chirac, while longtime PMOI supporters such as Sheila Jackson Lee, Democrat of Texas, criticized Maryam Radjavi's arrest. All charges were later dropped.

In 2019, French Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah and French academic Roland Marchal were arrested on security charges. Marchal was later released in a prisoner swap. Adelkhah was sentenced in 2020 to five years on security charges and one year concurrently on charges of propaganda. According to France24, the case has been a "thorn in relations" between France and Iran. The academics' support committee has asked scientific institutions to "suspend all scientific co operation with Iran". In May 2022, Iran's intelligence ministry said it had arrested two Europeans, later identified as French nationals, for allegedly fomenting "insecurity" in Iran. In October 2022, Iranian authorities announced more arrests in "the case of French spies", accusing those detained of "conspiracy and collusion" to harm Iran's national security. In January 2023, French special forces seized a boat in the Gulf of Oman loaded with Iranian supplied weapons and ammunition which were bound to militants in Yemen.

With 6.25% of the market share in exports to Iran, France was Iran's sixth leading supplier in 2005. Iran is France's 27th customer (its third leading customer in the Middle East). Fifty five percent of French exports are concentrated in the automotive sector. French companies are also very active in the oil industry, rail and shipping transport, and the financial sector. For the most part, imports from Iran are crude oil. Altogether, 3% of French hydrocarbon imports come from Iran. A reciprocal agreement protecting and encouraging investment signed by the French Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade on 12 May 2003 in Tehran came into force on 13 November 2004. Iran's Minister of Commerce, Mr. Mohammad Shariat Madari, made an official visit to France from 20 through 23 January 2004. The French Secretary of State for Transport and the Sea, Mr. François Goulard, went to Iran on 20 June 2004, on the occasion of the resumption of Air France's Paris Tehran flights. The nuclear issue will determine any changes in the business climate in Iran. France and its European partners have emphasized to Iran the promising prospects that would result from a negotiated solution. However, the present worsening of the nuclear crisis could damage France's economic cooperation with Iran in the long run. IKCO cooperation with France's Peugeot dates back to more than two decades ago and seven different Peugeot models accounted for about 64 percent of the total of 542,000 passenger cars and pickups produced by IKCO in 2007. IKCO and Iran's second largest car company, Saipa, produce Logan in a joint venture with France's Renault.

Cooperation relations are managed in the context of the general arrangement of 14 September 1993 and the cultural arrangement of 31 January 1999. Four priorities have been established:
The promotion of inter university partnerships and advanced French training. France is the sixth leading country in terms of hosting Iranian scholars. Actions supporting university cooperation conducted by the embassy in Tehran (welcoming and guiding students, improving language skills, providing networking opportunities with former scholars) are to be grouped together in a centre for university information and exchange. Increased French instruction in Iran's secondary and higher education. Several public secondary schools in Iran offered French classes in Autumn 2003. Borrowed words from French, and language similarities due to both being Indo European languages. The promotion of scientific partnerships (seismology, biology, environmental sciences, town planning, human and social sciences, veterinary medicine) in compliance with the rules of vigilance and with Iranian co financing. A two year integrated action programme (called “Gundishapur”) ended in July 2004. Bidirectional development in cultural dialogue. The embassy provides volunteer translation and publication services and organizes cultural and scientific events. The French Research Institute in Iran is the only foreign research centre authorized to take part in disseminating information about Iranian culture.

According to a 2012 BBC World Service poll, only 7% of French people viewed Iran's influence positively, with 82% expressing a negative view. According to a 2012 Pew Global Attitudes Survey, 14% of French people viewed Iran favorably, compared to 86% who viewed it unfavorably; 96% of French people opposed Iranian acquisition of nuclear weapons and 74% approved of "tougher sanctions" on Iran, while 51% supported use of military force to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

France's imports from Iran in the first nine months of 2016 showed a 34 fold rise compared to the corresponding period in 2015, Iran's state run Tasnim News Agency reported on 10 December 2016.

France has an embassy in Tehran. Iran has an embassy in Paris.