In light of the continuous Syrian civil war, it has been recently announced that Iran and arch-rival Saudi Arabia will be attending Friday’s conference in Vienna for the first time in the hopes of finally closing the unfortunate chapter of Syria in its four years of civil war.
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Bear in mind that this new engagement on Syria comes after the landmark nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers. “Assad… has the necessary readiness for talks with insurgents who are committed to a political path”.
“The difficulty we face is that the involvement of Iran is only going to inflame the opinion, the attitudes of a few groups in Syria”, he said.
One round of talks has already been held in Vienna between Russian Federation and backers of Syria’s opposition – the United States, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
“Whether the meeting in Vienna on Friday and subsequent talks will help resolve the fundamental differences about Assad”s future remains to be seen.
The announcement came just days after the United States said it had agreed to invite Iran to the summit.
As of 2012, the U.S., the United Kingdom and France as well as 14 other UN member states have said they recognise the SNC as the official representative of the Syrian people.
The Iranian role also appears to show a few degree of flexibility from Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who previously declared that Tehran would not have further negotiations with Washington on regional issues. “I think if Iran is accepting the dialogue, to now sit next to the global community, to find a way out of the Syrian crisis by dialogue and politics, I think it’s because it doesn’t want to lose any more commanders”.
The Syrian National Coalition, an opposition group based in Turkey and backed by Western powers, says Iran’s participation in the talks will undermine the political process.
It will be the first time the major players in the conflict are in the same room but there has been no mention of either the Syrian government or the opposition joining. Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Soleimani is said to be coordinating the Russian-Iranian supply effort. The foreign minister of Egypt – which has taken an anti-terrorism stance that has made it less critical of Assad – also said he would attend.
Iran and Russian Federation, both strong allies of Assad, have reportedly been plotting their joint military intervention in Syria for months.
“We need to be realistic in terms of how long it would take come to a few kind of agreement between countries since there are very sharp disagreements between them”, said Robert Ford, a former USA ambassador to Syria and now a fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington.
The US has considered Iran participation in the talks for a few time but Saudi Arabia had rejected the idea.
They were reported to be joining government forces and fighters from the Lebanese Shia Islamist movement, Hezbollah, in assaults on rebel positions in northern and central Syria.
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“Ultimately, to defeat Daesh [Islamic State, or IS], we have to end the war in Syria”, Kerry said.
