This afternoon the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee met, via videoconference, the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Majles, the Iranian Parliament, as part of the Deal on Italy’s priorities in the context of the new geopolitical balances in the enlarged Middle East. It was a bureau supplemented by representatives of the groups and senators concerned. Curiously, Laura Garavini , senator of Italia Viva and vice president of the Commission
, presided over the session . This happened despite the fact that the President of the Commission, Senator Vito Petrocelli of the 5 Star Movement, was present at the meeting.
How come
Various parliamentary sources reconstruct the incident with Formiche.net. Today’s session comes almost three months after the first call of the meeting between the two commissions, which was skipped at the last minute due to the absence of Senator Petrocelli. It was April 27 and it was a presidential office, which is why there is no trace on the Senate website.
It was Petrocelli himself who had delegated the vice-president Garavini to lead the session, convened on an Italian initiative. But as soon as the news arrived in Iran and triggered the denial of the then president of the commission, Mojtaba Zonnour , a loyalist of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , who in recent months had asked for the execution of former president Hassan Rouhanifor his commitment to return to dialogue with the United States.
At this point there are two hypotheses on the refusal. The first: that from Tehran they were particularly keen on the presence of the pentastellato, who today underlined in his speech that his visit to Iran in April 2019 was “the last” of “an important Italian political exponent”. The second: that the members of the Majles did not like that the presidency of the session was entrusted to a woman.
Judging from today’s “restorative” session, with the presidency entrusted to Senator Garavini and the last speech for the Italian side to Senator Petrocelli, the second is the most accredited hypothesis. According to Formiche.net, the Foreign Affairs commission would have squared around the senator of Italia Viva to demonstrate that the Italian institutions do not yield to fundamental issues.
Many topics were touched upon by the Iranians in the audition. Vahid Jalalzadeh, chairman of the commission, asked “the Italian government to help us […] buy vaccines so that [the] countries […] that blocked our money due to American sanctions can free them”. But he failed to mention that Iran is already part of Covax. Then he said that an eventual Italian intervention in the Gulf “would not have a good impression in the Iranian public opinion”, ignoring the fact that it is not possible, but decided within the Emasoh mission.
In his speech, the diplomat Hossein Noushabadihe may have given some news: “We know that Italy has strongly wanted the return of the United States to the JCPOA negotiating table and has done everything possible to ensure that the countries involved have a positive approach”. He later explained that “the whole world knows that Iran has not violated any [point of the nuclear agreement]”, however, silencing the reports of the International Atomic Energy Agency which say the opposite and speak of violations well before the US exit decided by former President Donald Trump ‘s administration .
Finally, before arguing that “the Islamic State was created by the Americans”, Jalalzadeh commented on the cases of political prisoners Ahmad Reza Jalali and Nasrin Sotoudehinviting Italy not to interfere in the affairs of other countries. “Out of respect for you I will investigate this matter,” she explained in response to requests raised by several senators. Then, however, the warning: “We must respect our Constitution”, he added, underlining the separation between legislative and judicial powers – a concept that however appears to be lost when, for example, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks of exchanges of prisoners with the West.
As mentioned, the last intervention by the Italian side was entrusted to Senator Petrocelli, who only a month ago, after having signed with Beppe Grilloan anonymous document on Xinjiang in defense of China against the “bias” of Western governments and media, had declared the following to the Republic: “Unlike others I do not have to reaffirm my pro-Atlantic faith every time, but I think that right inside of the western field, Italy must be the best reference for Russia, China and Iran ”. Words that, as told on Formiche.net, had earned him the applause of Zhao Lijian , spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
As for Iran, however, the pentastellato senator insisted a lot on his 2019 visit, citing all the representatives of Iranian politics he met. In particular, he recalled the confrontation, also on the cases of political prisoners, with Mohammad Javad Larijani, general secretary of the Human Rights Council of the judiciary, known for having invited the world to draw inspiration from Iran, which applies the death penalty, in the fight against drug offenses.
