Ploy cries hidden agenda behind Russia, Iran talks
17 Jan 2014 11:56 PM GMT
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif arrived in the Russian capital late Wednesday on the same jet as Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem.
Zarif met Sergei Lavrov on Thursday and the Russian foreign minister was due to hold talks with Muallem separately on Friday. The three sides are working to come up with a joint stance that would keep Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in power after next week’s talks.
Iran’s ambassador to Moscow, Mehdi Sanaie, told the Interfax news agency that the three diplomats would meet for joint talks later in the day.
‘This does not mean that we have some tri-party (peace) draft,’ Lavrov told reporters after his talks with Zarif. ‘We have nothing to hide,’ said Lavrov. ‘We have no hidden agenda.’
Zarif will also meet later on Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss curbs on Tehran’s nuclear programme and the possible purchase of missiles that could fend off punitive strikes by arch-foe Israel.
The talks between the Damascus regime and its two main allies come four days after a ‘Friends of Syria’ meeting in Paris of mainly Western and Gulf nations backing the rebels.
World powers are seeking to bring the warring parties together for their first direct discussions at the so-called Geneva II peace talks beginning on January 22.
‘There is a strong Tehran-Moscow-Damascus axis emerging,’ said Russian PIR Centre research institute analyst Andrei Baklitsky.
‘Russia and Iran support Assad and a political settlement to the conflict - and this is the only thing working right now,’ said the analyst.
Zarif met Sergei Lavrov on Thursday and the Russian foreign minister was due to hold talks with Muallem separately on Friday. The three sides are working to come up with a joint stance that would keep Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in power after next week’s talks.
Iran’s ambassador to Moscow, Mehdi Sanaie, told the Interfax news agency that the three diplomats would meet for joint talks later in the day.
‘This does not mean that we have some tri-party (peace) draft,’ Lavrov told reporters after his talks with Zarif. ‘We have nothing to hide,’ said Lavrov. ‘We have no hidden agenda.’
Zarif will also meet later on Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss curbs on Tehran’s nuclear programme and the possible purchase of missiles that could fend off punitive strikes by arch-foe Israel.
The talks between the Damascus regime and its two main allies come four days after a ‘Friends of Syria’ meeting in Paris of mainly Western and Gulf nations backing the rebels.
World powers are seeking to bring the warring parties together for their first direct discussions at the so-called Geneva II peace talks beginning on January 22.
‘There is a strong Tehran-Moscow-Damascus axis emerging,’ said Russian PIR Centre research institute analyst Andrei Baklitsky.
‘Russia and Iran support Assad and a political settlement to the conflict - and this is the only thing working right now,’ said the analyst.
Next Story
