Iranian state TV quoted Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Marzieh Afkham, as saying Wednesday that Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will attend the talks.
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As Iran’s most crucial ally in the region, Syrian President Bashar Assad is critical to Iran’s retaining its bridge to Hezbollah in Lebanon and preserving its geopolitical influence along the eastern Mediterranean.
United States officials strongly objected, on the grounds that Iran had not accepted the terms for the talks – namely, that all parties work to establish “by mutual consent” a transitional body, sans Assad, to govern Syria.
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.
“If they’re serious we will know, and if they’re not serious we will also know and stop wasting time with them”, said Saudi Foreign Minister Abdel al-Jubeir during a joint press conference with his British counterpart.
The United States, Turkey and Saudi Arabia are all adamant that the only way out of the morass is to ease Assad from power.
The Islamic Republic has on numerous occasions insisted that a political solution is the only way out of the chaotic situation plaguing Syria.
Syrian opposition activists said inviting Iran will only prolong the conflict because Tehran would reflect the Syrian government’s position. The United States has been carrying out air strikes from the group in Iraq and Syria since a year ago.
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.
Revolutionary Guards Deputy Commander Hossein Salami said in an interview on state TV on Monday that Iran has increased its military presence in Syria in recent months to help its army. The U.S., undoubtedly, has been eager to engage with Iran over the Middle Eastern issues, and working together on Syria would create mutual confidence to extend the cooperation to other issues as well in future, such as Yemen.
“An invitation to Iran to participate, I think Iranian leaders can take to mean that it’s a genuine multilateral invitation”, department spokesman John Kirby said. Meanwhile, according to reports, Russian Federation is dispatching to the Eastern Mediterranean a massive guided missile carrier, Moskva, equipped with an estimated sixty-four S-300 missile defence systems. The United States has said it could tolerate Assad during a short transition period, but that he would then have to exit the political stage.
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More than 250,000 people have been killed in Syria’s brutal conflict since it began in March 2011 following a bloody crackdown on protests against Assad’s rule.
