The invitation after the United States declared itself ready to engage long-time foe Iran if it might help halt Syria’s civil war.
Advertisement
Foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt also are scheduled to attend the meetings set for Thursday and Friday.
“The goal is to come up with a framework, an agreed-on multinational framework, for a successful political transition in Syria which leads to a government not led by Bashar al-Assad, that is representative and answerable to the people of Syria”, Kirby said Tuesday. It’s not clear if invitations were issued to the Syrian government or opposition rebel leaders, though neither side attended the smaller round of negotiations last week, which included the USA, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, according to Reuters.
A Middle East expert and commentator has said that world powers’ invitation of Iran to the Vienna talks on Syria is an indication of destitution.
“The challenge that we face in Syria today is nothing less than to chart a course out of hell”, Kerry told an audience at the Carnegie Endowment for global Peace.
But Secretary of State John Kerry said he felt “progress was being made towards laying down the foundation of what a political transition could look like” after the last talks and wanted to “continue momentum”, Kirby said. He described the United States as a persistent enemy of the Islamic revolution, and said that despite the nuclear agreement, it needed to be kept at a distance.
The United States on October 27 said Iran should be invited to the Vienna talks and that “it is important for us that key partners are in these discussions”.
The Saudis and most Western powers see him as an obstacle.
Fox News is told the increased Russian transport of Iranian weapons is being coordinated by Qassem Soulimeini, the head of the Iranian Al-Quds force, as well as President Vladimir Putin and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. “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”.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA report said Geneva 1 and 2 had systematically failed to hit an outcome for Syrian crisis earlier this year.
Iran is believed to have sent thousands of troops and Hezbollah militia fighters to support Assad’s forces.
And on Tuesday, US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said that Washington was considering unilateral ground incursions into Syria, ostensibly against Isis.
Washington has accused Moscow of concentrating its air campaign there on moderate opposition groups rather than on the Islamic State militant group.
The civil war in Syria is also less of a priority for America than it is for its allies.
Advertisement
For a few time, Iran has been pushing a four-point plan for Syria that calls for a ceasefire, followed by the formation of a national unity government, constitutional reforms and, finally, free elections.
