TEHRAN — Iran’s new ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, met on Friday with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin to discuss a range of issues, including the latest developments in the de-escalation zone of Syria’s Idlib province.

During the meeting in Moscow, Jalali and Vershinin spoke about the most important issues in the Middle East, including the situation in Idlib, according to RIA Novosti.

The two diplomats emphasized the continued cooperation of the two countries in resolving the Syrian crisis in the context of the Astana process, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

In line with their security cooperation, Iran, Turkey, and Russia - three power brokers in Syria - launched the Astana peace talks on the Syrian crisis. The talks were launched in January 2017 with the aim of putting an end to the Syrian conflict.

Kazakhstan has hosted multiple rounds of talks on Syria since January 2017 most of which involved delegations from the Syrian government and opposition.

A source in the Turkish Foreign Ministry informed TASS on Thursday that Turkish, Russian and Iranian representatives are working on coordinating the date for a trilateral summit on the Syrian settlement process.

“The parties are working to agree on the date for the summit. As soon as an agreement between the three countries is reached, the date of the summit will be announced to the public,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry stressed.

Russian Presidential Envoy for the Middle East and Africa and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov earlier told TASS that a trilateral Russian-Iranian-Turkish summit could be held in Tehran in early March if the Turkish leadership agreed.

The previous, the fifth in a row, a trilateral meeting between the presidents of the countries acting as guarantors of the Astana process to promote a peaceful settlement in Syria took place in Ankara in September 2019. 

The three countries also maintain contacts as part of the high-level meetings on Syria in Nur-Sultan (the new name of Astana). The last such meeting was held on December 10-11, 2019.

MH/PA