Luca Giansanti, former Italian
ambassador to Tehran and currently foreign ministry
director-general for political affairs and security, told an
ANSA forum on Iran Thursday that of the many actors
destabilising the Middle East, "Iran has its responsibilities"
but is not the only one.
Iran protects its interests and "we have to work where
interests coincide," he said.
"The game for Europeans and the West in general is
complicated because we must try to rebalance a situation
perceived by our Sunni allies in the Gulf as unbalanced in
favour of Iran", he said.
This balancing act, "working with all sides, is
fundamental", he said.
Italy's relationship with Iran is not just economic but for
years has seen the two work on regional crises like Afghanistan
and Iraq, he said - and now, with other actors, in Syria,
Lebanon and Yemen, where signs of a possible solution are being
seen.
Giansanti also said that Iranian diplomacy had a "very
great tradition" and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had
sophisticated abilities, which have enabled him to build a
"solid personal relationship with US Secretary of State John
Kerry", which "goes beyond the relationship between the two
countries, which is destined to remain complicated".
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