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Italy Upraids Iran
on Israel StanceItaly Says
Iran Isolating Itself
With Its Call
for Destruction of
Israel
(Back to
Articles about Italy)
By MARIA SANMINIATELLI Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
ROME Nov 6, 2005 ? Italy said Sunday
that Iran was isolating itself with its call for the destruction
of Israel the latest retort reflecting increasing diplomatic
tensions between the two countries.
"No one wants to isolate Iran," Italy's Foreign Ministry said.
"On the contrary we all hope that Tehran, adopting responsible
conduct, wants to play a role of stabilization in its region,
but it is Iran which inevitably isolates itself the moment it
denies the right to exist to another state and other people."
The statement came in response to Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman
Hamid Reza Asefi's criticism of Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco
Fini.
Asefi criticized Fini for calling on the international community
to help guarantee Israel's security and condemning Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's assertion last month that the Jewish state
should be "wiped off the map."
Fini's comments are "not compatible with the role of foreign
minister and with the glory and honor of the Italian nation,"
Asefi said during his weekly news conference Sunday.
The Italian ministry shot back, saying, "Minister Fini certainly
cannot accept lessons on conduct coming from a foreign (ministry)
spokesman."
Italy had good relations with Iran's previous leadership and
in the past has pledged to help bring Tehran closer to the European
Union. The election of the ultraconservative Ahmadinejad, however,
has strained ties between the two countries.
On Thursday, Fini skipped a pro-Israel rally outside Iran's
embassy in Rome, saying he feared Tehran might retaliate against
Italian interests, but he encouraged others to participate.
In an interview published in Saturday's editions of Corriere
della Sera daily, Fini said Ahmadinejad's Oct. 26 remark reflected
what many others think "but have not always dared speak with
such brutality."
"Not recognizing Israel's right to exist is an incentive for
terrorism because the moment you don't recognize a state's right
to exist, you don't recognize a people's right to exist," Fini
said
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