Iran president says Geneva 2 meeting unlikely to succeed

President says talks between Syria's government and its enemies will fail due to lack of influential players.


Reuters January 22, 2014
Iran's President Hasan Rowhani gives a press conference in Tehran on August 6, 2013. PHOTO: AFP

ANKARA: Talks in Switzerland between Syria's government and its enemies to end the country's three years of civil war are unlikely to be successful, Iranian President Hasan Rouhani said on Wednesday, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"Because of the lack of influential players in the meeting, I doubt about the Geneva 2 meeting's success in fighting against terrorism ... and its ability to resolve the Syria crisis," Rouhani said.

"The Geneva 2 meeting  has already failed without it even being started."

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon retracted an invitation to Iran after Syria's political opposition said on Monday it would withdraw from the peace talks scheduled for Jan. 22 if President Bashar al-Assad's main sponsor took part.

COMMENTS (1)

Sexton Blake | 10 years ago | Reply

It appears that the Swiss meeting will be a waste of time. Instead of invading Syria the US and Saudi Arabia have decided upon financing and encouraging militants in Syria until they get rid of President Assad. The Syrian Government will not agree to letting them take over so the meeting will end in stalemate without a solution. But then,everywhere America goes devastation seems to result with no solution in sight. For example, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan,Iraq, Libya, and now Syria.just to name a few.

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