French President Emmanuel Macron is to visit Iran at some point before January, Mehr News Agency reported Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Bahram Ghasemi, as saying on November 13. No French head of state has made a red-carpet visit to Iran since 1971.

Several Western leaders visited Imperial Iran not too long before 1979's Islamic Revolution that toppled the last Shah, but during the 38 years of the Islamic Republic few have contemplated a visit due to difficult relations and the risk of upsetting Washington given the events of the 1979-1981 Iran hostage crisis.

Ghasemi said at his weekly press conference that “the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron is on the agenda of both sides, but the exact date has not yet been determined”.

France has been at the forefront of European Union efforts to prevent the nuclear deal with Iran unravelling given the hostility shown towards the accord and the Iranian government by US President Donald Trump.

However, France has shown some sympathy to Trump in saying that that new sanctions could be imposed against Iran if needed over its ballistic missile programme.

Asked to clarify comments made by Macron during a trip to the United Arab Emirates last week about the prospects of possible sanctions with regard to Iran's missile development activities, French foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes Romatet-Espagne told Reuters on November 13: “As you know, the European Union has already placed sanctions on Iranian entities involved in the ballistic programme. If needed, new sanctions could be taken.”

Iran has rejected Macron's call for talks on its ballistic missiles, saying they are defensive and unrelated to the multilateral nuclear agreement with six major world powers.

Ghasemi added that UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is also due to journey to Tehran in the near future to discuss issues.