The United States on Tuesday remained opposed to Iran’s participation in a proposed meeting on Syria, saying no decisions have been made about the meeting.
The United States on Tuesday remained opposed to Iran's participation in a proposed meeting on Syria, saying no decisions have been made about the meeting.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland called the participation one of the issues still under discussions, as UN-Arab League joint envoy Kofi Annan still wants to hold the meeting in Geneva on Saturday of big powers and regional players on ways to bring an early end to the 16-month violence and bloodshed in Syria.
"We are still working on the participation. We do not think that Iran has a place at the table," Nuland said at a regular news briefing, accusing the Islamic republic of continuing its support for the Syrian government in the ongoing situation.
Russia has insisted on Iran's joining the conference, saying the republic has an influence on the situation in Syria.
"I would say today that we are getting closer, but we don't have any decisions yet," Nuland said of the discussions on the meeting.
She stated that Washington intends the meeting, whether it takes place over the weekend or "sometime thereafter," to "truly" makes progress in supporting the six-point peace plan brokered by Annan as well as a "peaceful, democratic" transition in Syria.
The spokeswoman rejected the suggestion that the Annan plan is basically kaput, saying "We have never characterized the plan in those terms."
She said the problem lies in the plan's not being implemented, which in turn has rendered the UN monitors unable to do their job of observing ceasefire in Syria.
Washington and its allies want a transition in Syria with the departure of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Russia and China advocate a negotiated end to the conflict and oppose any outside interference.