Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Iranian/Italian Relations



Can Italy and Iran work together?



Italy is Iran's #1 European trading partner. Economic sanctions would most certainly hurt Italy most in the EU. Perhaps that is why Italy has said that Iran's bid for nuclear energy is "legitimate".



However, today Foreign Minister D'Alema has stated that the possibility of Iran "acquiring is unacceptable for the international community." However, is it acceptable for Italy?



However, Italian oil power Eni is investing more in Iran even with escalating talks of sanctions. The company probably knows something that the outside doesn't. Italy is too weak to make any drastic economic moves as it continues to struggle with it's own economic hardships. Italy will be relying on other nations to make the bold moves.



A new development from the G8 summit is that they are warning Iran to stop uranium enrichment. The G8 "will support adopting further measures, should Iran refuse to comply with its obligations". This probably is the driving force for D'Alema's latest statement.

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