MOSCOW: Iran said on Thursday that it wants to participate in the upcoming Geneva II talks on the Syrian crisis but any preconditions set for its participation is not acceptable.
In a press conference in Moscow on Thursday after talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, Iran’s Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif said that that any solution to the Syrian conflict must involve the Syrian people only and be without foreign meddling.
The Iranian foreign minister said that the Geneva II conference scheduled to be held on January 22 is crucial for the region. He said that the Islamic Republic is willing to take part in the event only if invited officially and unconditionally.
Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov urged UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to invite Iran and Saudi Arabia to the conference. He said the participation of regional powers would help find a political solution to the nearly three-year-old conflict.
Moreover, Lavrov denied the existence of any secret three-way deal between Tehran, Moscow and Damascus to resolve the unrest in the Arab country.
The two foreign ministers also exchanged views on issues of global and regional concern including ways to deal with the growing wave of extremism and terrorism in the region.
