TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian has canceled a trip to the Italian capital Rome due to a more important meeting in Tehran, Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported. 

Amir Abdollahian was expected to travel to Rome to attend the Mediterranean Dialogues (MED) conference organized by the Italian foreign ministry. The conference kicked off on Thursday. 

Citing a source in Iran’s Foreign Ministry, IRNA said the trio was called off because the Iranian foreign minister had a more important meeting. 

“This trip was in the planning stage with the aim of participating in the MED conference. But given that a more important event in Tehran was also on the agenda, the trip was called off,” IRNA quoted the source as saying.

The source added that the Italian foreign minister will pay a visit to Iran at the agreed time given the good relations between Iran and Italy. 

Amir Abdollahian met with Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio in Rome in mid-July. 

A delegation was accompanying Amir Abdollahian to Italy.

Upon arrival, Amir Abdollahian said, “The trip to Italy is done at the invitation of the foreign minister of this country. We had consultations and talks twice in New York and Munich. Pursuing political, economic and commercial cooperation is one of the main goals of this trip, and various programs have been put on the agenda for these goals.”

In his meeting with the Italian foreign minister, Amir Abdollahian said, “We want the JCPOA to work well. We seriously want a good and lasting agreement and we believe that Iran should be able to take full economic benefit from the JCPOA. The U.S. should understand this fact well regarding guarantees.”

He added Tehran has always presented new initiatives to revitalize the agreement. However, the foreign minister said, the Americans have not acted “correctly” and “rationally”.

They should make their understanding of the subject realistic, Amir Abdollahian suggested.

For his part, Di Mario emphasized that Italy and the European Union are interested in the negotiations regarding the return of all parties to the JCPOA and that Italy is ready to play a positive role in this regard.