TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said that there are still “fundamental” differences about how to settle the crisis in Syria, noting that some countries still insist that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should leave the office under any solution.

Zarif made the remarks after nearly eight hours of talks on the Syrian conflict in Vienna on Friday in which the foreign ministers other countries including Russia, the U.S, Germany, France, Britain, China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, and Iraq were also present.

It was the first time that Iran was invited to the conference on Syria.

Zarif said any political solution to the conflict should be based on the views of the people of Syria, insisting on Tehran’s position that it is the Syrians who should determine their future.

However Zarif said the statement issued after the negotiations was “rather moderate” and there is no “extremist views” in it.

For example, he said, it has been stated that it is the Syrian people and Syrian groups who should finally decide about the future of their country.

According to the BBC, after the talks, the ministers agreed on a number of points, including:
inviting the UN to convene Syria's government and opposition to launch a new political process that is ""credible, inclusive, non-sectarian""
a new constitution and UN-backed elections that involve all Syrians, including members of the diaspora and of all ethnicities
improved access to humanitarian aid for Syrians in and outside the country
working with the UN to ""explore modalities for, and implementation of, a nationwide ceasefire""

The four-year-old war in Syria has left 250,000 people dead and forced half the country's population - or 11 million people - from their homes.

Staffan de Mistura, the UN's envoy to Syria, said it was ""unimaginable"" even a few weeks ago that all parties would have agreed to talks, but added that much work and compromise remained to be done.

‘Daesh is enemy of all’

Zarif said, “All our neighbors and all of the international actors should realize this fact that Daesh [the Arabic name for the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant] is our enemy and is a serious threat to us, and all the countries should counter it seriously.”

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov said they continued to disagree on the fate of Assad.

While the U.S. says Assad should have no role in Syria's future, Mr. Lavrov said: “The Syrian people should decide Assad's fate.” He added that he “did not say that Assad has to go or that Assad has to stay”.

Zarif says conveyed views of Leader on JCPOA implementation to 5+1

Zarif also told reporters that he conveyed to the views of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution to the foreign ministers of the 5+1 group, who were present on the conference, on the mechanism for the implementation of the nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Zarif said he called on the U.S. that Washington must fulfill its commitments to the deal “immediately”.

He added that Iran held talks with the 5+1 group foreign ministers (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) on the Arak heavy water reactor and said that “good advances” were made about redesigning of the reactor.

All the views of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei were discussed in the talks, Zarif said.


NA/PA