FRANCE: Courting Billions

It was the reddest of red carpets that the French rolled out last week for a state visit by Iran's Shah Mohammed Riza Pahlevi and his Empress Farah. The entire French Cabinet lined up at Orly Airport to welcome the Shah. President Valery Giscard d'Estaing skipped the NATO summit in Brussels to welcome the Iranian leader, who was feted at Versailles' Hall of Mirrors with fireworks and dances. At week's end the wooing appeared well worth the effort: Iran agreed to purchase $5 billion in industrial equipment and technology from France in the next decade.

The French have promised...

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