Bloomberg: Former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard went to Iran for a private visit, not at the request of President-elect Francois Hollande, according to a Socialist lawmaker.
Bloomberg
By Albertina Torsoli
Former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard went to Iran for a private visit, not at the request of President-elect Francois Hollande, according to a Socialist lawmaker.
Rocard was received yesterday by Iranian Defense Minister Ali Akbar Salehi while in the country for a three-day visit, Le Figaro reported today in its Website.
“It was a purely individual initiative,” Socialist lawmaker Arnaud Montebourg said in an interview on BFMTV today, adding that he doesn’t know whether the Socialist Party will sanction Rocard for the trip.
Jean-Francois Cope, who heads outgoing President Nicolas Sarkozy’s Union for a Popular Movement party, said today he wants Hollande to clarify his position on Iran.
“I don’t know what a private initiative is,” Cope said today in an interview on the France Inter radio station.
Rocard “is close to Francois Hollande,” Cope said. “Now we discover he’s received with all the honors by Iranian leaders. I can’t believe Rocard did this in total disconnect with Hollande.”
