Italy's economic development minister pledged on Tuesday to support business deals with Iran potentially worth billions of dollars, undeterred by fears U.S. President-elect Donald Trump could put slowly thawing international relations back on ice.

Trump has raised the prospect the United States could pull out of the pact, which lifted many sanctions in exchange for limiting the Islamic Republic's nuclear programs, leaving European diplomats fearing the change of leadership at the White House could thwart growing trade.
But Italian Minister of Economic Development Carlo Calenda said he would continue to work to strengthen trade ties, and travel to Iran in early 2017 along with Economy and Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan.
The issue of funding investment would be high on the agenda, he said.
"The central issue is to make financing channels work fully, so that all the good projects we have can become reality," Calenda said at a trade fair in Rome for Iranian companies.

(Source: Reuters)