Italian Senate Speaker Pietro Grasso in a meeting with visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif Wednesday confirmed Iranˈs key role in resolving regional crises, IRNA reported.
The two countriesˈ top officials in the meeting emphasized the need for further expansion of Rome-Tehran parliamentary relations, as well as continuation of high level political consultations on major regional and international developments.
Zarif who arrived in Italy on Wednesday morning on an invitation of his Italian counterpart Federica Mogherini meanwhile congratulated the Italian Senate Speaker for his countryˈs chairmanship of the EU Foreign Relations Council, arguing that the rotating chairmanship is an appropriate opportunity for increased contacts and consultations.
Zarif elaborated on Iranˈs nuclear stands emphasizing that Tehran has done all its best to resolve that dispute.
Highlighting the great peril of expansion of terrorism and extremism in the region and the world, Zarif said that Iran had ever since the beginnings of the Syrian crisis warned against the great threat of expansion of those notorious tendencies.
ˈIf responsibility was felt at that time and the terrorists were encountered resolutely by the international community then their infiltration into Iraq would not have happened,ˈ said Zarif.
The Italian Senate Speaker expressed hope that the negotiations over Iranˈs nuclear program will lead to a final agreement, arguing that after such an agreement the ground for much broader cooperation will be paved.
ˈThe recent Tehran visit of the chairman of the Italian Senateˈs Foreign Relations Committee was very fruitful and set the beginning of a new chapter in bilateral parliamentary cooperation,ˈ said Mr. Grasso.
The Iranian foreign minister after that meeting attended the European Council for Foreign Relations, where he elaborated on Islamic Republicˈs policies and stands on regional developments and the nuclear issue.
He then answered the questions posed by the audience on Iranˈs foreign relations, its neighborsˈ political behavior, and Afghanistan developments.