(Adnkronos) – Foreign minister Antonio Tajani will hold a ‘Quint’ meeting in Rome focussed on the Middle East countries of Syria and Iran, which will be attended by his US, French, German and British counterparts and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, foreign ministry sources have told Adnkronos.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken will take part in the Quint meeting, according to the sources. The confirmation of Blinken’s attendance comes after the US State Department announced that Blinken will be in Italy to accompany President Joe Biden on his visit to Rome and the Vatican.
Blinked will meet with European colleagues in Rome to discuss support for “a peaceful, inclusive, Syrian-led political transition” and on Thursday and Friday will join Biden for meetings with Pope Francis, Italy’s president Sergio Mattarella and premier Giorgia Meloni, the US State Department said.
Italy sent a new diplomatic representative to Damascus in late November after Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham ousted long-time dictator Bashar al-Assad, and has begun to review sanctions by EU countries against Syria, the sources noted.
Tajani himself is expected to have direct contact with the Syrian interim authorities shortly, according to the sources.
The Quint meeting due to take place late on Thursday at Villa Madama will look at the state of relations with Iran, particularly in light of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala’s arrest and imprisonment in Tehran last month.
Tajani last week summoned Iran’s ambassador over Sala’s detention on 19 December, days after the US and Italy arrested two Iranian nationals over export violations linked to a deadly attack on American servicemen.
The Quint is a decision-making group consisting of the United States and the ‘Big Four’ Western European countries – France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.
