Special to WorldTribune.com

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s nuclear deal victory tour will include visits to Italy, Vatican City and France.

On Jan. 16, Europe, as well as the United States, lifted sanctions on Teheran after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced Iran had fulfilled all of the measures required under its deal with world powers.

Rouhani will be in Italy on Jan. 25-26 to meet with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, President Sergio Mattarella and business leaders. He is also scheduled to meet with Pope Francis on the second day of his visit, a source told Reuters. The Iranian president then travels to Paris on Jan. 27.

Rouhani had originally planned to visit Italy and France in November, but those trips were canceled following the Paris terror attacks.

Meanwhile, Iran on Jan. 18 called new U.S. sanctions on its missile program “illegitimate.”

Washington announced on Jan. 17 that it was imposing sanctions on five Iranian nationals and a network of companies based in the United Arab Emirates and China in connection with Iran’s ballistic missile program.

“Iran’s missile program has never been designed to be capable of carrying nuclear weapons,” Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency, according to AFP.

  France and the Vatican, Iran’s Rouhani takes victory tour with stops in Italy, Matteo Renzi, Pope Francis, U.S. sanctions, WorldTribune.com