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| Iran unrest to dominate G8 talks | |
| (about 11 hours later) | |
| Unrest in Iran is expected to dominate discussions between foreign ministers gathering in northern Italy to prepare for a G8 summit. | |
| The future of Afghanistan had been the original focus of the talks in Trieste, but Iran's post-election violence has shifted the attention. | |
| As a neighbour of Afghanistan, Iran had been invited to attend the meeting, along with other bordering countries. | |
| But Iran's foreign minister has said he has "no plans to travel to Italy". | But Iran's foreign minister has said he has "no plans to travel to Italy". |
| The BBC's Duncan Kennedy in Rome says the Trieste talks would have offered a rare chance for G8 ministers to meet senior Iranian diplomats to discuss the country's controversial nuclear programme. | |
| But protests by opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - who say he has unjustly claimed victory in the recent elections - have changed the agenda of the talks, says our correspondent. | But protests by opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - who say he has unjustly claimed victory in the recent elections - have changed the agenda of the talks, says our correspondent. |
| Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in protest and at least 17 people have died in clashes with riot police. | Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in protest and at least 17 people have died in clashes with riot police. |
| Tehran says the protests are illegal and the election result is accurate - a stance which is expected to be condemned by some G8 members. | Tehran says the protests are illegal and the election result is accurate - a stance which is expected to be condemned by some G8 members. |
| Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini earlier met Iran's charge d'affaires in Rome to discuss Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki's absence from the talks, the AFP news agency quoted a ministry statement as saying. | |
| Rome said it hoped that "in the future Iran will be able to engage in a profitable way in the process of regional stabilisation in Afghanistan". | Rome said it hoped that "in the future Iran will be able to engage in a profitable way in the process of regional stabilisation in Afghanistan". |