It’s the first time Iran has been invited to the discussions over Syria’s four-year civil war, and on Wednesday Iran’s state TV and semi-official news agency said Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will attend the talks, set to begin Thursday and Friday in Vienna.
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“There will be bilateral and multilateral discussions in Vienna on Friday and participation is very much still being worked (on)”, Kirby said and added that “Iran will be asked to participate”.
Saudi Arabia and other USA allies in the Middle East had previously opposed the involvement of Iran, which they blame for fomenting unrest in several parts of the Middle East, including Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
Iran says it will attend the upcoming global talks over Syria’s future this week in Vienna.
It will be the first time Iran – an ally of President Bashar al-Assad – has attended such a summit with the US. Tehran and Moscow say they are fighting Islamic State militants, but other rebel groups say they have also been targeted.
Amid all the talking, fighting in Syria goes on.
The United States, Turkey and Saudi Arabia are all adamant that the only way out of the morass is to ease Assad from power.
On 30 September, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that the peace talks should include the nuclear talks format (Iran, US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany) “enlarged with regional partners”.
The civil war in Syria has already resulted in more than 250,000 deaths and evacuation of 11 million people from their homes in four-and-a-half years of armed conflict, according to the United Nations data.
Iran’s invitation is widely expected to come from Russian Federation, which would provide further diplomatic cover following Khamenei’s rejection of further one-on-one dealings with Washington.
On one side are Russian Federation and Iran, which both are backing Assad’s forces on the ground and say Damascus must be helped to defeat “terrorism” before a political process can start.
“Ultimately, to defeat Daesh, we have to end the war in Syria, and that is America’s goal”, Kerry said, using a term for the IS group based on its Arabic acronym. Nor is it clear whether Tehran has formally accepted the principles agreed by other powers in Geneva in 2012: that the road to peace was through the formation of a transitional government formed by mutual consent of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the Syrian opposition.
“We won’t hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against ISIL, or conducting such missions directly, whether by strikes from the air or direct action on the ground”, Mr Carter said.
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She said the USA, in collaboration with its allies including Saudi Arabia, has formed a so-called anti-terror coalition after creating and training terrorist groups like al-Qaeda, Taliban, al-Nusra Front and Daesh.
