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Syrian opposition threatens withdrawal from peace talks over Iranian participation
The Western-backed Syrian National Coalition (SNC) said this morning that it will withdraw from this week’s scheduled Syrian peace talks, dubbed Geneva II later this week, after United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced that he had invited Iran to participate in the conference.
On Saturday, the SNC voted in favour of participating in the peace conference alongside members of President Assad’s government although only 58 of its 119 delegates voted in favour, with many deciding to abstain.
However, the SNC’s participation is now in the balance following Ban Ki-moon’s announcement yesterday that he had invited Iran to participate in the first day of talks on Wednesday in Montreux. This came after Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Zarif assured Ban Ki-moon that “like all the other countries invited to the opening day discussions… Iran understands that the basis of the talks is the full implementation of the 30 June, 2012, Geneva communiqué.”
After the first Geneva peace conference in June 2012, a communiqué was agreed which included recognition of the Syrian opposition in any transitional government. Iran is one of President Assad’s closest allies and is thought to have provided him and Hezbollah, which has fought alongside Assad’s troops, with material and military support against opposition groups.
SNC spokesman Louay Safi said via Twitter “The Syrian Coalition announces that they will withdraw their attendance in Geneva II unless Ban Ki-moon retracts Iran’s invitation,” and Coalition member Anas al-Abdah told Al-Jazeera that the invitation is “illogical and we cannot in any way accept it.” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki commented, “If Iran does not fully and publicly accept the Geneva communique, the invitation must be rescinded.”
In another sign of Iran’s desire to play a more prominent role on the international stage, the interim nuclear deal agreed between the P5+1 forum (US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany) and Tehran in November begins implementation today, following agreement on the technical details last week.