Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Araqchi said the upcoming meeting of the Friends of Syria is aimed at finding a political solution to the ongoing conflict in Syria
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Araqchi said the upcoming meeting of the Friends of Syria, due to be held in Tehran, is aimed at finding a political solution to the ongoing conflict in Syria.
“The meeting is an effort by the Islamic Republic of Iran to help [find] political solutions to the Syrian crisis,” Araqchi said during his weekly press conference on Tuesday.
He said that the meeting will be held with the slogan of Political solution - Regional stability on May 29 and a number of countries have been invited to attend the meeting.
The Iranian official reiterated Iran’s opposition to any military intervention in Syria, voicing the Islamic Republic’s support for national dialogue between the Syrian government and the opposition in order to settle the crisis in the Arab country.
In the meantime, the Syrian government put forward a list of five officials including Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi as potential negotiators in talks with the opposition, European diplomatic sources said on Tuesday.
The list, provided to Moscow in early March, also includes deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil and three other officials, the sources said.
Momentum has been gathering for the talks -- expected to be held in Geneva next month -- but no date has been set. One of the diplomatic sources said the list put forward by Damascus was "subject to change" as it would need to be approved by the opposition.
A senior French official told AFP that some of the names proposed by the Syrian regime were "unacceptable".
Araqchi said Iran is willing to attend the Geneva conference, arguing all influential parties must be included in the process for it to be a success.
“The condition for success in Geneva is that all countries with influence on events in Syria participate,” he told reporters. “I do not think anyone in the world doubts that one of those countries is the Islamic republic.”
Araqchi further condemned the recent wave of deadly terrorist attacks across Iraq, warning that the enemies of the Muslim world are seeking to cause ethnic and sectarian strife between Shia and Sunni Muslims.
Concerning the latest talks between Iran and the IAEA, Araghchi said Tehran does not consider negotiations a failure. “Talks between Iran and the IAEA had not reached any conclusions so far, but we hope that they would yield results in next rounds, nevertheless we do not consider them a failure,” the Iranian official added.
“If the P5+1 (Britain, China, France, Russia and United States plus Germany) prefer to continue talks after the [presidential] election that is their choice, because the fundamental stances of our country will not change before or after the election,” Araghchi said.
