Iranian Regime Swaps Sanctions for Big Cash Deals in Europe

France welcomed Iranian President Hassan Rouhani Thursday with a lucrative car-making agreement and pledges to boost trade.

That comes after President Barack Obama and Western leaders gave Iran a nuclear deal that dropped sanctions against the Islamic regime.

Before arriving in France, Rouhani visited Rome Wednesday where he made billions of euros worth of deals.

Today, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the countries should forget past rancor. "France is available for Iran," he said. "Iran can count on France."

But Iranian exiles in France protested Thursday's new deals with Iran. One huge banner read: "Welcome Rouhani, Executioner of Freedom."

The protesters say the regime will only use the new money to promote terrorism and continue its domestic crackdown on freedom.

"The money out of this lift of sanctions will go in the hands of Revolutionary Guards, Pasdaran, who are responsible for domestic repression, especially executions in Iran that under Rouhani over 2,000 have been executed so far -- 57 of them have been women," said Dowlat Nowrouzi, a representative from the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

"So we have to say the money will go to their hands for export of terrorism, fundamentalism, especially in Syria, in Iraq, in Lebanon," she continued.

Despite striking new deals with Iran, the French government is still concerned about what Iran may be up to. They've asked the European Union to consider new sanctions after Iran's recent ballistic missile tests.