Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday welcomed Iran’s presence in a meeting to help resolve the Syrian crisis

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday welcomed Iran’s presence in a meeting to help resolve the Syrian crisis.

Lavrov made the remarks in an interview with Russian daily Moskovskie Novosti.

Egypt president has offered to host a quartet meeting with presence of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia to take initiatives to resolve Syrian crisis, he said.

Egyptian president’s move will compensate the mistake made in the preliminary phase of Geneva conference which they failed to invite Iran and Saudi Arabia due to the tough stands adopted by the United States, he said.

“In a meeting with Egypt president, I voiced Russian support for Mohamed Mursi proposal to invite Iran for the quartet meeting,” Lavrov said.

He said that the western countries along with China have the option to join the quartet.

The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council can join the four-nation regional powers meeting to help resolve Syrian issue, he said.

Lavrov said that Iran and Saudi Arabia should put aside their ideological differences to increase exchange of delegations between the two countries. Resolving Syrian crisis without assistance of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt is very difficult task, he indicated.