The lack of mutual understanding represents the main hurdle to improving the relations between Iran and the Western countries, says His Excellency Bahador Aminian Jazi, the Iranian ambassador in Romania. "If we don't succeed in understanding in each other, this can create mistaken mutual perceptions, which affect our actions. We need to overcome this obstacle and to promote a tighter cooperation", he said, at the end of the international conference "The European Union and the Middle East - Iranian points of view", which was held on October 23rd and 24th.

The goal of the event, according to the Iranian ambassador, was to present Tehran's perspective on the issues that the Middle East is faced with, but also on the opportunities which the area offers to the countries of the European Union. He said: "We are part of that region, which allows us to understand it better than the players which are farther away from it. Also, Iran is the only country in the Middle East which has a true, participative democracy, in which the voice of the citizens is being listened to. This makes us a good partner for the European Union in its approach to find out what the inhabitants in the region believe".

One of the main threats for the Middle East is religious extremism, which Iran also tries to fight, Bahador Aminian Jazi says. "Unfortunately, in the past, the Western countries helped the growth of some of the extremist organizations which we are fighting today", the ambassador says, who went on to say: "The rise of the Taliban, for instance, is a consequence of the policy the West pursued in Afghanistan. Now they are very powerful, not just in Afghanistan, but in Pakistan as well. In Syria, some rebel factions are affiliated to al-Qaeda and despite that fact, they receive support from the Western countries. This is not beneficial for peace and the stabilization of the Middle