Iran will "definitely" attend international talks in Vienna on the Syrian conflict this weekend, a foreign ministry spokesman said on state television without specifying the level of Tehran's delegation.
"The level of our participation is still not clear but we will definitely participate in the process," spokesman Sadegh Hossein Jaberi Ansari said late Thursday
The talks due to take place from Saturday will bring together 17 countries and three international bodies and are the second round of negotiations between foreign actors with a stake in Syria's war.
Iran is the main regional ally of Syria and provides President Bashar al-Assad with financial and military aid, including by posting military advisers on the ground.
An Iranian delegation led by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif took part in the first round of talks on October 30.
On Monday Zarif insisted that the next meeting in Vienna must determine which groups in Syria's four-and-a-half-year war are "terrorists" and then agree on how to proceed to end the conflict.
Zarif is not expected the be present in Vienna for the weekend talks as he will be accompanying President Hassan Rouhani to Italy and France on November 14-17.
Jaberi Ansari said there are red lines which should not be crossed, namely any attempt by "foreign players" to make decisions "on behalf of the Syrian nation".
Washington and its Arab allies want Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step aside as part of a solution while Tehran and Syria's other ally Moscow insist that his fate is a matter for his own electorate.
Iran will “definitely” attend international talks in Vienna on the Syrian conflict this weekend, a foreign ministry spokesman said on state television without specifying the level of Tehran’s delegation.
“The level of our participation is still not clear but we will definitely participate in the process,” spokesman Sadegh Hossein Jaberi Ansari said late Thursday
The talks due to take place from Saturday will bring together 17 countries and three international bodies and are the second round of negotiations between foreign actors with a stake in Syria’s war.
Iran is the main regional ally of Syria and provides President Bashar al-Assad with financial and military aid, including by posting military advisers on the ground.
An Iranian delegation led by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif took part in the first round of talks on October 30.
On Monday Zarif insisted that the next meeting in Vienna must determine which groups in Syria’s four-and-a-half-year war are “terrorists” and then agree on how to proceed to end the conflict.
Zarif is not expected the be present in Vienna for the weekend talks as he will be accompanying President Hassan Rouhani to Italy and France on November 14-17.
Jaberi Ansari said there are red lines which should not be crossed, namely any attempt by “foreign players” to make decisions “on behalf of the Syrian nation”.
Washington and its Arab allies want Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step aside as part of a solution while Tehran and Syria’s other ally Moscow insist that his fate is a matter for his own electorate.
