The US has reversed longstanding opposition to Iran’s participation in peace talks to end the Syrian civil war, paving the way for a possible diplomatic breakthrough in the four-year conflict.
Officials in Washington insisted the move was a “genuine multilateral invitation” and implied they had succeeded in overcoming Saudi Arabian opposition to Iranattending the talks in Vienna on Friday.
Nearly two years ago, a similar offer for Iran to attend an earlier round of talks in Geneva was hastily rescinded by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon after fierce opposition from the US, Britain and Syrian opposition groups.
But continued bloodshed and diplomatic stalemate have combined with a worsening refugee crisis and new Russian military intervention to put pressure on the international community to find a fresh political approach to ending the war.
The presence of Iran, which, along with Russia, has been a crucial ally of the Syrian government, could be a crucial factor in bringing the competing external players in the conflict to a common agreement on how to end the conflict.
The US insists that a central goal of the peace talks also remains the removal of current president Bashar al-Assad, who it says has been responsible for too many civilian deaths to remain a credible part of any future government.
“The ultimate goal that everyone wants to get to … is to come up with a framework for a successful political transition in Syria which leads to a government not led by Bashar al-Assad and that is representative of and responsive to the Syrian people,” State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington on Tuesday.
But Washington officials did not say whether Iran had agreed to that principle too, who had extended the invitation, or even whether Iran would accept the invitation to attend this week’s Austrian talks.
“We anticipate that Iran will be asked to participate,” added Kirby. “Whether they come or not, that’s up to Iranian leaders.”
Nevertheless, an Iranian presence, which has not been seen in any previously failed peace talks on Syria, would be a significant breakthrough in itself, and a possible sign that the separate talks in Iran’s nuclear programme have succeeded in unlocking some of the most intractable fixed positions in the Middle East.
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