Iran Needed in International Efforts to Resolve Crisis in Syria, Says Lavrov

Moscow –   Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov underlined Iran’s role in the resolving the ongoing crisis in Syria, and said that the international efforts to resolve the crisis in Syria without Iran’s presence will be futile.

‘The international efforts to resolve the crisis in Syria without Iran’s participation is useless,’ Russian state TV quoted Lavrov as saying.

The Russian foreign minister pointed to the quadrilateral meeting between the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey in Vienna on Friday aiming to resolve the crisis in Syria, and said, ‘We agreed with holding this meeting to resolve the crisis in Syria under such framework and we meantime informed our allies that the efforts for creating such groups in a bid to support the political process of resolving the crisis in Syria is futile and useless.’

‘We believe that under such conditions, Egypt, Qatar, Jordan and the UAE should be participated in the negotiations on the issue of Syria, Lavrov added.

Two conferences were previously held in an attempt to resolve the crisis in Syria in the Swiss city of Geneva, one in 2012 and the other in 2014; however, both events ended in failure amid the absence of Iran.

‘When we agreed to this format of negotiations on Syria, we said we were convinced that the idea to set up a circle of support for a Syria settlement without Iran had no prospects,’ Lavrov said.

Iran was not invited to the first one, and while the country primarily received an invitation to take part in the second Geneva conference, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon later rescinded the invitation under pressure from the United States, Saudi Arabia, and the foreign-backed Syrian opposition.

 Zarif, Lavrov discuss latest Middle East’s situation over phone

On the other hand in Tehran, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in a telephone conversation Saturday underlined the need for increasing the international contacts to resolve the regional crisis and restore stability and security to region.

During the phone talk earlier today, Zarif and Lavrov discussed the latest situation in the Middle East.

Lavrov briefed his Iranian counterpart about contents and outcomes of Friday’s meeting in Vienna, Austria that focused on Syria.

Zarif, for his part, elaborated on Iran’s viewpoints for resolving the ongoing crisis in Syria and underscored the pivotal role of the Syrian people for any solution to put an end to the crisis in the Muslim country.

IRNA

R.S