TEHRAN: Iran yesterday opened a forum aimed at finding a political solution to the crisis in Syria attended by delegates from around 40 countries but without any Syrian representation.
The meeting comes as the United States and Russia prepare to host a conference in Geneva next month aimed at getting representatives of President Bashar Al Assad’s regime and of rebel groups to discuss ways to end fighting that has claimed some 94,000 lives.
Among those attending the Tehran conference were delegates from Russia, a staunch ally of Assad, Nicaragua, Venezuela, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and Uganda.
However neither the Syrian government nor political and armed groups opposed to it were represented. No official reason was given. Iran, Assad’s main regional ally, regards armed Syrian opposition groups as “terrorists” backed by Western and Arab countries.
“For a political solution ... all violence and conflicts must end immediately,” Iran’s foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi said in opening the forum. AFP
