Top diplomats of major world powers, including the Islamic Republic of Iran meet for the first time in Vienna on Friday in search of a political solution for the Syrian crisis.
Top diplomats of major world powers, including the Islamic Republic of Iran meet for the first time in Vienna on Friday in search of a political solution for the Syrian crisis.
"This meeting is very timely because it is the first time since the start of the Syrian conflict that all the major players are gathering," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said as he arrived for the talks.
"We must fight more effectively against the terrorists" of the Islamic State [of Iraq and the Levant takfiri] group and Al-Qaeda affiliate, the Al-Nusra Front," he said.
"Then it is necessary to organize the political transition," Fabius added.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called the talks a "sign of hope for Syria and the region" and an "important first step" toward finding a solution to the conflict.
There was no talk of representatives of the Syrian government or the opposition attending the discussions aimed at ending a four-year war that has claimed a quarter of a million lives.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, while warning against expectations of an immediate solution, has described the talks as "the most promising opportunity for a political opening we have seen".
"Now it is the right time to bring Iran to the table," Kerry said.
Russia, which has waged a month of intense air strikes against takfiri groups operating in Syria, has also urged preparations for parliamentary and presidential elections in Syria.
Russia and Iran have made it equally clear that Assad has a right to play a role in an eventual transition towards a mooted unity government and later elections.
"Apparently those who have tried to solve the Syrian crisis reached the conclusion that without Iran's presence there will be no possibility of reaching a rational solution," Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, according to state news agency IRNA.
Russian deputy foreign minister Sergey Ryabkov said Moscow and Washington fundamentally differ" over the Syrian issue.
"The use of force in any form in Syria without agreement of the legitimate government of this country would be unacceptable to us," he told the Interfax news agency, speaking in Russia.
Representatives from Britain, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Lebanon, the European Union and possibly other Arab states, were expected to attend Friday's talks.
China sent its vice foreign minister Li Baodong, saying there was "strong momentum for a political solution".
