Vatican: Iran must join fight against terrorism

After a visit to the Capitoline Museums with Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Rouhani said that Iran had “always been on the front line in combating terrorism”, and that had it not been for Iran’s role, “the situation would be very hard”.

“Iran is the safest and most stable country in the entire region”, the Iranian president told Italian business leaders.

Rouhani’s four-day trip to Italy and France comes some two weeks after financial sanctions on Iran were rolled back following a nuclear deal with world powers a year ago.

After the meeting, Iran’s president asked Pope Francis to pray for him.

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That European trip was scratched after the November 13 attacks in Paris.

He emphasised that all sections of Iran’s often-divided political class, right up to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were firmly behind the post-sanctions drive to secure the trade and investment needed to create new roads, rail links, airports and other infrastructure. Pope Francis also gave President Rouhani a copy of encyclical Laudato Si, which is an appeal from Pope Francis addressed to “every person living on this planet” to talk about shaping the future of the world.

Rouhani and will also pay his first visit to the Vatican to meet Pope Francis.

With sanctions lifted, Italy and Iran have signed 17 billion euros worth of business deals during President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to Rome.

In its statement on the Francis-Rouhani talks specifically, the Vatican said, “Common spiritual values emerged, and reference was made to the good state of relations between the Holy See and the Islamic Republic of Iran”.

Italy also sees Iran as a potential peacemaker for Syria’s civil war, as the Italian government fears the warfare will further destabilize Libya, just across the Mediterranean from southern Italy, fuel terrorism and jeopardize energy security.

Ancient nude statues were covered with white boxes in Rome.so as not to embarrass the President of Iran.

Rouhani brought a gift of a hand-made rug that he said was made in the Iranian holy city of Qom.

In the hours preceding the press conference, members of the massive Iranian delegation (Rouhani came with an entourage of more than 100) took “dozens” of selfies with the famous bronze statue, a landmark of Roman art emulated many times since its creation in the second century.

While former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attended a United Nations summit in Rome in 2008, he did not visit the pope or hold an official state visit with Italian leaders.