Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó spoke with Iran’s new acting foreign minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, by phone on Thursday, following Hungary assuming the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Bagheri Kani was appointed after his predecessor, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, was killed in a helicopter crash in May, Szijjártó noted on Facebook.
He said he and Bagheri Kani were in agreement on the need to intensify dialogue between the EU and Iran, arguing that “diplomacy isn’t about limiting dialogue to those with whom you agree on everything”. The minister said they hoped discussions between the EU and Iran could help avoid an escalation in the situation in the Middle East. Szijjártó warned that if the Middle East crisis were to spread to other countries, it would threaten global security, “and we who have been living in the shadow of a war for two and a half years now don’t want another global security crisis”. Szijjártó added that he and Bagheri Kani had agreed to stay in constant contact and speak in person on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.