PARIS (AP): France’s government welcomed Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday with promises of a new beginning in an old relationship, starting with investments to boost Iran’s flagging economy crippled by decades of sanctions over its nuclear activities.

But France also asked its European Union partners to consider new sanctions on Iran for its recent ballistic missile tests, officials have told The Associated Press. That highlights continued suspicions between Iran and the West despite the recent agreement curbing Iran’s nuclear program and the lifting of earlier sanctions.

Rouhani, visit was also met with protests. Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, with headquarters outside Paris, held a demonstration, and 61 lawmakers signed an open letter to Hollande, condemning Iran’s human rights record, with executions on the rise, and what it called its “strategy of chaos” in the Middle East.