France to double visas for Iranian visitors

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French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault speaks during a joint press conference with his German counterpart in Paris on January 28, 2017. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who was appointed foreign minister on January 27, is on his first trip as foreign minister. GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault speaks during a joint press conference with his German counterpart in Paris on January 28, 2017. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who was appointed foreign minister on January 27, is on his first trip as foreign minister. GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault speaks during a joint press conference with his German counterpart in Paris on January 28, 2017. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who was appointed foreign minister on January 27, is on his first trip as foreign minister.
GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP
France plans to double the number of visas it issues to Iranians, Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Monday in Tehran, at a time when US travel curbs have angered Iran.

“France wants to be able to allow a larger number of Iranians wishing to travel to France to ask for a visa in improved conditions,” the French minister said at the start of a visit to the Islamic republic.

“This project, which aims to double the number of visas currently issued for Iran, should take effect in the summer of 2017,” he said at the French ambassador’s residence in Tehran.

France has been issuing 41,000 visas a year to Iranian nationals.

Iran’s foreign ministry said on Saturday it will ban Americans from entering the country in response to President Donald Trump’s “insulting” order restricting arrivals from Iran and six other mostly Muslim countries.

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