No Limit on Expansion of Iran-Tunisia Ties: FM

Zarif, who arrived in Tunisia on Monday on the last leg of his two-day North African tour, held a meeting with Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi.

The two sides discussed regional issues as well as ways for expansion of ties in different fields.

During the meeting, the Iranian foreign minister also thanked the Tunisian nation and government for their warm hospitality and conveyed Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s greetings to him.

He went on saying that there is an appropriate ground for further cooperation between Iran and Tunisia and added Tehran is ready to exchange experiences in different fields with the Tunisian side.

For his part, the Tunisian president expressed sympathy with the families of Tehran terror attack victims. At least 18 people were killed and dozens more injured in the twin attacks on Iranian parliament and the mausoleum of late founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Essebsi also congratulated President Hassan Rouhani’s reelection and voiced his country’s readiness to deepen mutual relations with Iran as a civilised nation with a long history.

Mechanism for Continuous Political Talks

Iranian foreign minister also held talks with his Tunisian counterpart Khemaies Jhinaoui.

During the meeting, the Iranian top diplomat said the Islamic Republic sees no limit to expansion of mutual ties with Tunisia in any field.

He also called for establishing a mechanism for continuous political talks between the two sides.

The Tunisian top diplomat, for his part, extended a warm welcome to the Iranian delegation and said Tunisia attaches great importance to the visit.

“The two sides need to explore ways to expand relations in all fields during this important visit,” he said.

Jhinaoui also expressed his country’s readiness to develop further relations with Iran and added the two sides can establish a joint commission by the early months of 2018 tasked with deepening mutual ties.

Holding Tunisia’s Culture Week in Tehran, the visit of a Tunisian commercial delegation to Iran, regional developments as well as other bilateral issues were among other topics of discussion between the two foreign ministers.

Tunisia was the last destination of Zarif’s regional tour, which earlier took him to Algeria and Mauritania.