Air France announced Tuesday that its airline will resume flights between Paris and Tehran from April 2016, marking the latest endeavor to resume European trade with Iran following the deal over Iran's nuclear program after nearly two years of talks.
The airline reports that three weekly flights would begin starting April, reported the Associated Press. It had suspended direct flights between Paris and Tehran in 2008 after Iran was hit with international sanctions over its nuclear program.
"Air France is showing its ambition to develop itself in a country with dynamic growth and for which the European Union is Iran's fourth economic partner," the company said in a statement.
France has a long history of economic and political links with Iran, reported Reuters. For example, in the 1970s, revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei lived in exile near Paris. That tie was equally relevant economically as before sanctions took hold in 2013, France's trade ties with Iran had been worth $4.2 billion.
This isn't the first step France has taken to restore ties with Iran as a result of the nuclear talks. In September, about 150 French entrepreneurs, accompanied by two government officials, travelled to Tehran for a trade mission, according to the Times of Israel.
In related news, Air France said that as a result of a transatlantic joint venture agreement with fellow airline company Delta, starting next summer it would run a daily service between Paris Orly Airport to New York's JFK "complementing five daily services from Paris-Charles de Gaulle."
