Iranian, Italian diplomats discuss bilateral ties, Syria

Senior Iranian and Italian foreign ministry officials, in a meeting in Tehran on Tuesday, underlined the need for the further expansion of the relations between the two states and further exchanged views over major developments in the region, Syria in particular. During the meeting, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian and the Italian Foreign Ministry’s Director General for Political and Security Affairs, Sandro De Bernardin, explored avenues for reinvigorating and bolstering bilateral ties. Amir Abollahian pointed to the status quo in the Iran-Italy relations, and called for the utilization of the existing potentials to further broaden the two countries’ mutual cooperation. The Iranian deputy foreign minister further noted the Syrian crisis, and called for international efforts to find a political solution to the crisis in the Muslim country. De Bernardin, for his part, underlined that his country and Iran share similar views over campaign against terrorism, and hailed Iran's positive role in the regional developments. He pointed to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s recent regional tour, and said, “Dr Zarif’s visit to the Persian Gulf littoral states is of paramount importance.” On Sunday, the Iranian foreign minister left Tehran on a tour of the regional countries. In the first leg of his tour, Zarif arrived in the Kuwaiti capital to pay an official visit to the Persian Gulf country. Later on Sunday, Zarif left Kuwait for the Omani capital, Masqat. The Iranian foreign minister later departed for the Qatari capital of Doha and met with senior Arab officials on bilateral ties and regional issues.