Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told French business leaders Wednesday that Iran was open for investment as he started a visit in France to revive business ties despite diplomatic differences.

Italy this week already rolled out the red carpet for the moderate Iranian president, who along with a 120-member delegation of business leaders and Cabinet ministers is on his first trip abroad since Iran's sanctions-ending nuclear accord with world powers took effect.

But with France having taken a hard line in the nuclear negotiations, being outspoken in its condemnation of Iranian support for Syrian President Bashar Assad and having close ties with Iran's Gulf rivals, the Paris leg of Rouhani's European trip was lower key.

Ahead of visit to France, Rouhani said that Europe and the U.S. had lost out as a result of the sanctions, but that now European countries were in a position to not only recover their traditional trading relationship but improve on it.

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