EU's Mogherini discusses Syria, mutual ties with Iranians

The visiting EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Saturday discussed latest developments on Syria as well as mutual ties between European Union and the Islamic republic, semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

Mogherini, who arrived here on Friday night, met with Iran's President Hassan Rouhani and the Foreign Minister Mohmmad Javad Zarif on Saturday.

In the meeting with Rouhani, the political cooperation as well as relations in the fields of economy, energy and communications comprised the topics of the discussions.

Both sides also stressed the stability of Middle East region and joint cooperation in the fight against terrorism and extremism in Syria, Hamid Aboutalebi, deputy chief of staff of president for political affairs, was quoted as saying.

On Saturday, Zarif also hailed EU's constructive role toward Syrian crisis and voiced Iran's readiness for closer cooperation with the European block.

Mogherini will leave Tehran to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday for talks on Syria.

Her visit to the Middle East followed the trilateral meeting of Russian, Syrian and Iranian foreign ministers in Moscow on Friday.

Russian Sergei Lavrov and his Iranian and Syrian counterparts vowed Friday to defend the revival of intra-Syria talks in order to facilitate a political solution to the protracted crisis in the war-torn Middle East country. Endit