Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini on Wednesday cancelled a long-sought trip to Iran aimed at getting Tehran to help stabilise Afganistan and Pakistan. The visit was cancelled just before the foreign minister was due to set off because Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad moved the venue of a protocol meeting to a rocket site from which a new missile had just been tested. Frattini voiced “profound regret“ at being forced to miss an opportunity to involve Iran in the stabilisation of the region where Taleban Islamist militants are growing stronger despite NATO-led efforts to stem their resurgence after their fall from power in 2001.
