Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and three of his deputies will attend multilateral talks on Friday in Vienna aimed at resolving the conflict in Syria, the foreign ministry was quoted as
Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and three of his deputies will attend multilateral talks on Friday in Vienna aimed at resolving the conflict in Syria, the foreign ministry was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
It will be the first time that Tehran, the main regional backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, attends an international summit on the four-year-long war. Other participants, notably the United States, say Assad can play no part in Syria’s future.
“Deputy foreign ministers Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Abbas Araqchi and Majid Takht Ravanchi will accompany Zarif on this trip,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham was quoted as saying by Iran’s ISNA news agency.
International talks in Vienna this week will test whether Russia and Iran are “serious” about a political solution to the war in Syria, the Saudi foreign minister said Wednesday.
Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, the European Union, France and Saudi Arabia also said they would attend Friday’s talks, which come a week after a smaller round of negotiations between the United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Around a dozen participants are expected in total. It was not clear if any invitations had been issued to either the Syrian government or the Opposition, though neither side was present at the last talks in Vienna.
The Syrian National Coalition, a political opposition group based in Turkey and supported by Western powers, said Iran’s participation in the talks would undermine the political process.
“Iran has only one project – to keep Assad in power... They don’t believe in the principle of the talks,” the coalition’s vice-president, Hisham Marwa, said.
Two senior Turkish government officials said Iran’s participation would not be an obstacle to Turkey taking part in the Vienna talks, but that the final decision would lie with the foreign minister himself.
Turkish foreign ministry officials were not immediately available for comment.
“Iran was always saying that without it the talks on the Syrian crisis would not succeed. What has changed is that Russia and the United States have come to the same conclusion,” said Ali Sadrzadeh, Iranian political analyst in Frankfurt.
“The nuclear deal between Iran and world powers has paved the way for Tehran’s participation in the international arena. The Vienna talks will be Iran’s first test,” he added.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who will take part in the talks, welcomed Iran’s participation. After a phone call with the Iranian foreign minister on Wednesday, she tweeted: “Important to have all relevant regional actors at the table on Friday in Vienna.”
Fighters from Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah are taking part in ground offensives being waged by the Syrian army and its allies with Russian air support, senior regional officials say.
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.
