Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi urged sanctions and continued duress on the Islamic Republic, saying also that the Jewish state risks becoming a “diplomatic outcast” if it carries out strikes against Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities.
Giulio Terzi told Bloomberg Television that “It would not be decisive in terms of bringing to zero the nuclear military program, [but] could also have consequences in global terms in international diplomacy, the kind of isolation that it could provoke for Israel itself…This pressure is going to increase again at the European level if the Iranians are not coming back with substantive willingness to engage in the negotiations,” said Terzi.
“They should provide guarantees that the enrichment is stopped or at least contained at a level which is compatible with the civilian uses.”
Giulio Terzi was elected in November for a position in the cabinet of Italian prime minister Mario Monti.
He also spoke of supporting the Syrians with humanitarian aid.
“Italy is very active in supporting a political solution [in Syria].” He spoke with similar military strategies as Spain. “We are very actively supporting the humanitarian needs of the Syrian population…We have not received a direct request to move together,” he said. “They themselves have not made the final decision at this point.”
Meanwhile, Syrian rebels captured an air force base east of Aleppo on Friday, according to sources.
The pro-Free Syrian Army Observatory gave a death toll for Thursday of more than 260 people, a number which includes civilians and combatants on both sides of the civil war. The Observatory said 92 soldiers were killed on Thursday, which would be one of the highest daily casualty counts on the government side since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad broke out in March 2011.
So far, upwards of 30,000 people have been killed in the conflict. The fighting has spilled into Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast called on Syria and Turkey to quell their violent dispute. Turkey fired rounds of ammunition at Syrian targets this week.
