After strong objections from America and Syrian opposition groups, the United Nations withdrew its invitation to Iran to attend the upcoming peace conference on Syria.
The Syrian National Coalition, the main political opposition in Syria, and the US say that Iran has been helping the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with arms and men during the three-year long civil war.
The possible presence of Iran did not go down well the Syrian political opposition and it threatened to withdraw from the talks scheduled Wednesday at Montreux, Switzerland. The U.S. too, said that the invitation should be retracted if Iran does not publicly accept the Geneva communiqué that allows Syria to transition into a democratic system.
Ki-moon said that Iran had assured him that it will accept the Geneva communiqué. But on Monday the Iranian officials clarified they would not accept the preconditions.
The Secretary-General, although "deeply disappointed" by Iran's response, urged it to join the conference. "The secretary-general is deeply disappointed by Iranian public statements today that are not at all consistent with that stated commitment," Ki-moon's spokesperson, Martin Nesirky, told reporters at a briefing, reports Reuters. "He continues to urge Iran to join the global consensus behind the Geneva Communique. Given that it has chosen to remain outside that basic understanding, he has decided that the one-day Montreux gathering will proceed without Iran's participation."
Monzer Akbik, Syrian National Coalition chief of staff, said the party "thinks they (UN and Ki-moon) have taken the right decision." "We appreciate the United Nations and Ban Ki-moon's understanding of our position... Our participation is confirmed for 22 January," he told Reuters.
The U.S. State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said in a statement that all the parties "can now return to focus on the task at hand, which is bringing an end to the suffering of the Syrian people and beginning a process toward a long-overdue political transition."
Not many parties hope for an immediate solution on the Syrian conflict during the conference. "I don't think that anyone who's dealt with Syrian officials has any false expectations of rapid progress," a senior official at the U.S. State Department said, reported The New York Times. "This is the beginning of a process. It is not going to be fast."
However, on an optimistic note, the State Department said that the conference is important as it will look at the possible solutions to establish a transitional government in Syria. "There are elements inside the regime itself, among its supporters, that are anxious to find a peaceful solution, and we've gotten plenty of messages from people inside; they want a way out," the State Department official said. "That's the whole point of their going to Geneva," the official added, referring to officials of the Syrian opposition. "To promote the alternative, the alternative vision."
Over 30 nations including the Arab League representatives, the European Union and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, have been invited to the first day of the conference, reports Time. Syrian government representatives and delegates of the opposition will head to Geneva for the talks. Time further reports that countries that are not involved in the Syrian conflict such as the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Russia will have a seat at the table in Geneva, and actively participate in coaxing the respective parties toward a workable agreement.
