MNA � Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has arrived in Rome to hold talks with senior Italian officials on expansion of bilateral relations and cooperation.







On his one-day work visit to Rome, Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, Abbas Araghchi, will first meet with a number of Italian mass media persons and researchers during a working breakfast.

Discussion on the JCPOA and ways to preserve trade and economic cooperation between Iran and Italy in the face of US sanctions will be part of the topics raised by the two delegations.

Italy is considered as one of Iran�s most important trade partners in the European Union, and one of the eight countries which the US granted exemption from Iran's sanctions.

Italian oil major Eni was reported on Nov. 06 to be looking at the Iran sanctions measures to see if it can use Iranian crudes to allow it greater flexibility in procuring supplies.�The company added it would fully study the measures regarding the ways to use Iranian crude in the time of sanctions.

On May 8, the US as one of the signatories to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, withdrew from the agreement and re-imposed economic sanctions on Iran which had been lifted under the JCPOA. Iran has stressed that it would continue to abide by the JCPOA as long as other parties and the EU could guarantee the country's economic interests. For this purpose, the EU has been working on a financial mechanism, the so-called Special Purpose Vehicle, to facilitate trade transaction with Iran in the face of US sanctions.