Secretary of State John F. Kerry on Saturday toggled from uncertainty over Syrian peace talks to rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran as he met with Gulf Arabs in the Saudi capital.
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The group includes Saudi Arabia, the United States and other countries who say President Bashar al-Assad can have no role in Syria’s future, and Assad’s allies Iran and Moscow.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Saturday discussed who should represent the Syrian opposition at crucial talks with the government as time ticks down on the meeting scheduled for next week.
The five nations are also concerned about security ramifications of the Iran nuclear deal, which has given Tehran access to billions in formerly frozen assets.
He is also due to have talks with Riad Hijab, chair of the Syrian opposition’s High Negotiations Committee, which was formed in Saudi Arabia last month, amid uncertainty about whether Syrian peace talks slated to start next week in Geneva will take place.
The Syria peace talks are planned to begin on January 25 in Geneva, but there is uncertainty around the date, partly because of a dispute over who will be part of the opposition delegation.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday said violence against the Saudi embassy was wrong, and against Islam.
Kerry spoke of the “urgency” of ending the conflict but said there are no illusions “that obstacles don’t still exist to trying to seek a political settlement in Syria”.
Despite the improved relations between the two countries, al-Jubeir said he didn’t foresee a new alliance between Washington and Tehran.
In a statement issued at the end of an OIC emergency meeting in the Saudi port city of Jeddah on Thursday, the organization backed Saudi Arabia in its weeks-long diplomatic spat with Iran, accusing Tehran of supporting terrorism and interfering in other countries’ affairs.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari said on Friday that the OIC statement runs counter to principles of the UN Charter and that it mainly aims to support the Saudi monarchy’s sectarian and war mongering policies.
Kerry is in Saudi Arabia days several ahead of much-anticipated intra-Syria talks mediated by the United Nations.
And that is part of what I’m going to Saudi Arabia about: “to make sure our friends see clearly how we will go forward on, together, to address those kinds of concerns”.
With regard to Syria, Kerry said: “We have reached an understanding to hold a first round of negotiations”.
“There is something that does bring them closer in terms of Syria, and that is called Daesh”, he said, using the Islamic State’s Arabic acronym.
Kerry flew to Saudi Arabia from Switzerland, where he participated in an annual World Economic Forum. “Both want to kill Daesh”.
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The top diplomat further reassured America’s Persian Gulf Arab allies that Washington “will stand with them against any external threat”.
