Europe must not isolate Iran over human rights: Italy
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The European Union must press Iran to respect human rights
but without burning all bridges with the country, Italy's
foreign minister said Saturday, stressing Tehran's role in
negotiating world conflicts.
"When a regime shoots at its own people, it sinks to the
lowest possible level", Franco Frattini told the newspaper
Corriere della Sera in an interview.
On Sunday, security forces used teargas, batons and
eventually live rounds to push back thousands of
demonstrators. Authorities confirmed eight people died but
rejected opposition charges that they were killed by
security forces.
"Italy asks Europe to be actively involved" on the question
of human rights, he said, and the European Union, under
Spanish presidency since January 1, should send a message to
Iran because "basic liberties are at stake".
However, the foreign minister stressed that Iran could play
an important role in the stabilisation of Afghanistan and
negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.
"We must not burn every bridge (with Iran) because Iran is a
key figure for the Afghan crisis, for the crisis in the
Middle East and over the very sensitive nuclear question",
Frattini said.
Frattini cited Iran's connections with Hamas in Gaza,
Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Syria, making the country
"decisive" in the region.
He also said Tehran was a "threat to Israel and many other
Arab countries, with the possibility of having nuclear
weapons".
"We must act so that Iran has a positive influence (on all
these issues), so that it is a strength, it is respected,
and not a concern", the minister said. "Iran has the right
to be a civil nuclear power, not a military one".
Frattini said sanctions should "avoid those that are
connected with Iranian national pride" and added that Italy,
the top European trade partner with Iran, has frozen all new
economic initiatives.
The foreign minister ruled out military action against Iran
should sanctions not work.
"Just thinking about it would be enough to set off a world
disaster", he said, adding a military response was not an
option "even in the event of a civil war".
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100102/twl-europe-must-not-isolate-iran-over-hu-3cd7efd.html
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