Italy is making inroads in Iran, following the seating of the new president Hassan Rowhani. “It wasn’t an isolated venture, explains Deputy Minister Lapo Pistelli in an interview with ANSA, upon his return from Teheran, “but a fully intentional mission by the ministry, fully aware and informed, in agreement with the Prime Minister and the President, along with the preventive data of European and American allies, and also of Israel”.
The mission entrusted to Italian diplomacy, Pistelli explains, was no accident. “Whatever opinion one might have of Iranian international policy, we are looking at a regional power that cannot be removed conceptually by the foreign policy of our country”, the minister points out. “We – more than others, and before the others – have historically had excellent relations with Iran, since the times of Romano Prodi and Mohammed Khatami and even before that in the days of Enrico Mattei in the 1950s. If anything changes in that country we have everything to gain, not only alone but as an international community as a whole”.
Helping to complete diplomatic processes
Pistelli adds that he believes “deeply in the role that Italian foreign policy is playing because we have been at it for three months now, less concerned with having a high profile at negotiating tables, and more with helping in the completion of diplomatic processes. The Iranian nuclear issue could be one, the case of Syria could be another”. Just back from Iran, Pistelli reports on the more pressing international dossiers on the foreign ministry’s agenda, among which Teheran has a prominent position.
Facilitating nuclear dialogue
And if September seems to be looming large, with Russia pushing for a new nuclear round table, the question is whether Italy, not part of the5+1, will be seeking a greater role. “There is a pre-existing framework, the 5+1 talks, there are negotiating packages and there will soon be new Iranian negotiations: for example, there is talk of a delegation led by the new Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javaz Zarif. This is a window of opportunity for serious and substantive negotiations on both sides. We are committed to facilitating that sort of dialogue”.
Iran’s role in Syria
“Geneva 2 – when, if and how it takes place – must serve as a means for achieving a compromise involving some radically distant opinions; there is also the role that Iran and others are playing in the Syrian conflict. All the actors in that conflict have to find a way to sit down together, including Iran”.
On the subject of Teheran’s possible international “clearance”, Pistelli leaves more than one door open. “It depends on them and it depends on us. The Iranian elections turned the page. First and foremost, are we interested in exploiting this new page? My response would be yes. There are already so many fires in the world that if by chance we were in a position to put one out, we must celebrate and bank on that open window. The new team of the Iranian government is full of persons who were educated in America, in England, who have known the Western environment. It is possible to reap good results both at nuclear level as well as at the level of other regional issues in which we have common interests”.