Astana Talks Aim at Preparing Circumstances to Launch Dialogue to End Crisis in Syria: Ansari

ASTANA, Kazakhstan, (ST)- Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab-African Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari has stressed that the goal of the Astana talks on the crisis in Syria is to attain stability in Syria and prepare necessary circumstances to launch a serious dialogue that seeks attaining a lasting solution of the crisis in the country.

“We are participating in these talks with complete readiness on behalf of the Iranian government which has announced from the very beginning of the crisis in Syria that solution won’t be through military means but through the peaceful ways based on serious political dialogue among the Syrians,” Ansari told journalists upon his arrival in the Kazakh capital Astana on Saturday.

 He said “the continuity of the crisis in Syria brings nothing but more killing and destruction to the country.

 The Iranian Embassy in Kazakhstan has announced that talks on Syria due in Astana on 23 and 24 of January will be observed by Russia, Iran and Turkey.

According to the Iranian Embassy source, “the objectives of the Astana talks include maintaining a sustainable cessation of hostilities, effectively fighting terrorism and launching Syrian-Syrian talks between the government and the opposition as to achieve political settlement to the crisis in Syria.

Hamda Mustafa