Iran’s President Visits France

PARIS — Iranian President Mohammad Khatami braved a storm of noisy protests by opponents and human rights groups to seek closer ties with Europe in talks with French President Jacques Chirac on Wednesday.

Khatami, on the first trip to France by an Iranian leader since the 1979 Islamic revolution, also discussed highly charged human rights issues, including French concerns over the fate of 13 Iranian Jews who have been detained on spying charges.

French police, fearing violence from Iranian opposition groups, staged a predawn crackdown on members of Iran’s largest exile organization. Up to 40 people, most apparently members of the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, were detained.