Iran has called on the US and Britain to “join hands” with Tehran in a common effort to defeat Islamic State and end the war in Syria.
In an intervention that will boost the chances of success of Friday’s UN security council talks on Syria, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, pledged support for a “concerted international effort” to win what he says has become a globally significant “existential battle”.“All must join hands to put into effect an immediate end to the bloodshed and vigorously focus on promoting an inclusive intra-Syrian political process, bringing together all Syrians,” Zarif writes in an opinion piece published by the Guardian. “We must close ranks in the fight against extremist violence and terror, while abstaining from letting rage come in the way of necessary collective reflection and wisdom for a rational and joint response.”
Zarif says the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), a panel of western and regional countries overseeing the peace process Iran was recently invited to join, has a crucial, collective role in ending the scourges of war and terrorism.
“Make no mistake: for the past four years, Syria has been ground zero in nothing short of a paramount fight for our future. I say ‘our’ – repeating the theme of a recent message by [Iran’s supreme leader] Ayatollah Khamenei, who called the menace of perverted extremism ‘our common worry’ – because the world’s fate is common,” he said. “No one is immune from the consequences of the outcome of the existential battle that we need to fight.”
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