PROGRESS IN IRAN LOAN TALKS, FRENCH OFFICIAL SAYS
Talks between France and Iran on the
repayment of a one billion dlr loan by the late Shah have made
progress, Roland Dumas, head of a parliamentary Foreign Affairs
Committee said.
    "They are progressing as far as I have heard," Dumas told
reporters. "The two delegations appear to be near an agreement
on the figures."
    Dumas, a close aide to President Francois Mitterrand,
earlier this week met Iranian Charge d'Affaires in Paris
Haddadi Gholam-reza.
    The report of progress contrasts with official French
statements last month after talks between Deputy Iranian
Finance Minister Mehdi Navvab and the French Finance Ministry.
    The talks, the latest round in long-running negotiations
between the two countries, were said to have led to little
progress on the loan repayment issue.
    France made a first repayment of 330 mln dlrs last
November. Since then negotiatiors have shuttled between Tehran
and Paris for talks which France hopes will help secure freedom
for hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.
    Iran is claiming full repayment of principal and interest
on the Shah's loan, made in 1975 to the EURODIF uranium
enrichment consortium. It has also asked France to curb the
activities of Iranian dissidents in France and stop selling
weapons to Iraq, its enemy in the Gulf War.
    France for its part has made a counter claim for more than
500 mln dlrs in compensation for contracts with French firms
broken after the 1979 revolution.
 REUTER
