Russia insists on Iran’s participation in the conference on settling the ongoing conflict in Syria, known as Geneva II, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, according to the Voice of Russia.

Russia insists on Iran's participation in the conference on settling the ongoing conflict in Syria, known as Geneva II, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, according to the Voice of Russia.

"Undeniably, Iran is among those that can have a positive effect on what is going on in Syria," Lavrov said at a press conference following negotiations with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Tehran.

"For the Geneva conference to be successful, all those who can influence the situation and who are influencing the situation at the moment should take part in it. And it is important to gather all these representatives at one table so as to build a team of likeminded people," he said.

This is a precondition for using "the influence that many countries currently have on what is going on in Syria in order to stop the bloodshed," he said.