U.S., Russia Spar Over Iran Participation in Syria Peace Talks
Source: Bloomberg
By Nicole Gaouette - Jan 13, 2014
A U.S.-Russia split emerged over Iran’s taking part in Syrian peace talks planned for next week, at a meeting between Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
“We would support Iran coming if it supported the goals of the conference,” Kerry told reporters today in Paris at a press conference with Lavrov and United Nations Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. He cited the presence of elite Iranian troops in Syria and the Persian Gulf state’s support for the terrorist group Hezbollah, which is also assisting the Syrian government. “No other nation has its people on the ground fighting in the way that they are,” Kerry said.
“It’s quite clear Iran and Saudi Arabia should participate in this conference,” Lavrov said, standing next to Kerry. “One cannot be influenced by ideological sentiments so much that it harms the course of the talks.”
Kerry and Lavrov met privately before joining Brahimi to discuss the U.S.-Russia effort to have the Syrian government and opposition meet for the first time since the conflict began in March 2011. The war has reduced cities to rubble, unleashed radicalism and produced a level of violence so high that the UN can no longer verify the number of dead and says its death toll will remain at 100,000, a level reached in July, because conditions are too precarious to accurately update figures.
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-13/u-s-russia-spar-over-iran-participation-in-syria-peace-talks.html
