Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohamed Javad Zarif shakes hands with his Lebanese counterpart Adnan Mansour in Beirut yesterday.
Parties working to prevent Iran from participating in Syria peace talks in Switzerland next week will regret denying Tehran a role, Iran’s foreign minister said yesterday.
“These parties will regret all the efforts they have undertaken to prevent the participation of Iran to find a solution and an end to the Syrian crisis,” Mohamed Javad Zarif said at a news conference with his Lebanese counterpart in Beirut.
Tehran is the staunchest regional ally of the Syrian regime, which is scheduled to sit down with the opposition at peace talks in the Swiss town of Montreux on January 22.
But it has not been invited to the talks, though Damascus has said it should be and the Iranian government has said it would be willing to if it is invited without preconditions.
“When it comes to Iran’s participation in Geneva 2, Iran rejects all forms of preconditions on its participation,” Zarif said.
“If the Islamic Republic of Iran receives a formal invitation, according to the criteria adopted for the invitations to the other parties, without preconditions, it will participate,” he said.
Iran has said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s future should be decided at the ballot box and Zarif warned yesterday that outside parties should only play the role of mediators.
“The Syrian crisis must be resolved by the Syrian people and other parties should at the very least help to find a political solution and not act as judges imposing conditions for dialogue,” said Zarif.