Syrian National Coalition Threatens to Withdraw from Peace Talks
The
United Nations Secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon today invited Iran to attend the
Geneva II conference on Syrian conflict in the Swiss city of Montreux on
Wednesday.
Ban
told reporters at U.N. headquarters that he had issued the invitation to Iran
after lengthy talks in recent days with Iranian Foreign Minister Javid Zarif.
“Foreign
Minister Zarif and I agree that the goal of the negotiations is to establish,
by mutual consent, a transitional governing body with full executive powers,”
Ban said. “It was on that basis that Foreign Minister Zarif pledged that Iran
would play a positive and constructive role in Montreux.”
The US State Department said it viewed the Secretary General's invitation to Iran “as conditioned on Iran's explicit and public support for the full implementation of the Geneva I communiqué, including the establishment of a transitional governing body.” (AP, 19 January)
The US State Department said it viewed the Secretary General's invitation to Iran “as conditioned on Iran's explicit and public support for the full implementation of the Geneva I communiqué, including the establishment of a transitional governing body.” (AP, 19 January)
UPDATE: The Syria National Coalition said today that
it will withdraw from the peace talks unless Iran invitation was retracted by the
U.N. (Reuters)
File photo: A 19-year old ISIS fighter in Syria. (@p_vanostaeyen/Twitter)
An interesting development. The Russian position on "transitional government" includes the potential retention of Assad and possible first elected president elected after a settlement is reached. The American position rejects this. I suspect the Iranian position aligned with Russia's.
ReplyDeleteWill the Syrian exile groups walk away now that Iran has been invited? The Jihadists did so before this development.
SNC just announced that it will withdraw from the talks if Iran attended.
DeleteFirst they don't want to Assad, now they don't want to talk to Iran. I mean come on, at the end of the day if you are interested in peace, you have to negotiate with your enemies. You can just say, "well, we don't like them so we won't talk to them". It's childish and counter-productive.
Deleteinstead of withdrawing or threatening to derail the whole process why don't the SNC just demand that the P-GCC attend in full capacity!.
Delete- but no! if the SNC withdraws because of Iranian presence then we shall all smell a rat and point a finger to their masters!
Uno does not care about Obama and kerry
ReplyDeleteThe age of Us7Israel in midde east is over
The time of iran has come
The time of Iran has gone.
Deletethe time of the present oppressive theocracy is short
and after that Iran may again have a decent future.