Tehran, Jan 23 – Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said the Syria Geneva II peace talks that opened in Montreux, Switzerland on Wednesday are unlikely to be successful, Iran’s Mehr News Agency (MNA) reported.
“We are not very hopeful that the conference will be effective in promoting stability because there are countries attending that have created instability,” Rouhani said Wednesday.
“However, we will be delighted if this conference can help people in the region and Syria and contribute to freedom, democracy and stability.”
A statement issued by the Foreign Ministry said “the basis of every democratic solution should be the vote of the Syrian people through an effective election mechanism.”
On Monday, United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon withdrew an invitation to Iran to attend the conference.
In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that the talks cannot be taken seriously without Iran’s participation.
“The thing that has happened with the withdrawal of the invitation to Iran, I believe that’s unacceptable,” Medvedev said.
“Can someone think the Syrian problem can be seriously discussed without the Iranian factor and their account of it?” he said.
– Bernama
