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Iran, French FMs discuss global issues

08 April 2011 00:21 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi and his French counterpart Alain Juppe have held talks on the latest international issues, APA reports quoting Press TV.

In a telephone conversation on Thursday, the two ministers reviewed latest developments in the world and discussed areas of international concern, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a press release.

They also discussed ways of expanding bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

The talks come amid the ongoing revolutions against autocratic regimes in North African and Middle Eastern Arab countries and concerns about the increasingly brutal crackdown on opposition forces and anti-government protesters in Bahrain, Libya and Yemen.

French troops have been engaged in the NATO-led airstrikes supposedly against forces loyal to Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi. However, the NATO bombing are reportedly inflicting growing number of casualties on the revolutionary forces as well.

Paris has also deployed to a main airport in Ivory Coast’s major city of Abidjan, as well as the streets of the capital Yamoussoukro, as diplomatic options have reportedly failed to force embattled ruler Laurent Gbagbo to cede power to the internationally-recognized winner of the disputed November elections, Alassane Ouattara.

Iran has condemned human rights violations and the brutal crackdowns on anti-regime protesters in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Libya and has fiercely criticized Western military and political interference in these countries.