Rouhani in Paris mocks Europe’s reaction to migrants

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Thursday that his country should be an example to Europe on migrant absorption, mocking complaints about the ongoing refugee crisis voiced in the continent in recent months.

Speaking at a prominent French think tank during an historic visit to France, Rouhani highlighted Iran’s experience hosting three million people fleeing neighboring Afghanistan as an example for a Europe struggling to absorb migrants.

In a speech to IFRI, the Institut Français des Relations Internationales, Rouhani said “our nation has shouldered such a heavy weight through all these years, accepting 3 million migrants without complaining.”

As at least one million people fleeing war and poverty in Syria and elsewhere reached Europe last year, he said, “Europeans with all their economic power and resources were saying ‘100,000 migrants have arrived to our soil, what do we do now? 200,000 have swarmed (our borders), what do we do now?'”

Rouhani also told the IFRI that the negotiations over his country’s nuclear conflict with the West should serve as an example for solving multiple regional crises in the Middle East.

For such diplomacy to work, he said, both sides must “lower our pretensions.”

Speaking through a translator, he said “that allowed us to reach accords” on curbing Iran’s nuclear program and lifting sanctions. “Each side must feel it is a win-win agreement.”

Rouhani’s visit to Paris is focused on renewing trade ties, but France also wants to draw in Iran’s help in peacemaking in the region, notably in Syria and Yemen, and easing tensions with regional rival Saudi Arabia.

The French government welcomed Rouhani on Thursday with promises of a new beginning in an old relationship, starting with investments to boost Iran’s flagging economy crippled by decades of sanctions over its nuclear activities.

Rouhani, whose visit was also met with protests, decried the sanctions, saying history has shown that they “never worked” and said the nuclear deal that led to the lifting of sanctions this month can serve as a model for solutions in other crises, notably in the Middle East.

“Today, we must use the positive atmosphere for a new elan,” he told a group of French business leaders.

About 20 agreements will be signed after a meeting between Rouhani and President Francois Hollande. PSA Peugeot Citroen announced a joint venture with Iran Khodro to produce latest-generation vehicles in Tehran by the end of 2017.

Rouhani’s trip was originally scheduled to visit Paris in November, but the trip was called off after Islamic extremists carried out attacks around Paris that killed 130 people.