Iran, Saudi Arabia in Face-to-Face Talk for the First Time About Syria Crisis
In light of the continuous Syrian civil war, it has been recently announced that Iran and arch-rival Saudi Arabia will be attending Friday's conference in Vienna for the first time in the hopes of finally closing the unfortunate chapter of Syria in its four years of civil war.
It has been established that Tehran, the capital of Iran is one of the backers of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who many believe to be the greatest influencer for the ongoing Syrian civil war, the Associated Press reports.
And with the recent announcement of Tehran sending Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and three of his deputies, according to Reuters, in the upcoming international talks in Vienna this coming Friday, it is greatly seen as a huge step in the hopes of solving the Syrian crisis.
On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir also announced their attendance for Friday's talks in light of the Syrian crisis. "The view of our partners ... was that we should test the intentions of the Iranians and the Russians in arriving at a political solution in Syria, which we all prefer," al-Jubeir said as quoted by Reuters.
The initial suggestions of Iran, however, as reported by Reuters is that Iran will be supporting a political solution but Syria's President Assad should be part of the process. However, Saudi Arabia's al-Jubeir seeks for "the time and means of Bashar al-Assad's exit."
The conflicting views are already raising tensions, especially when Saudi Arabia revealed that "we will resort to other options" if the talks with Iran will fail, per the Associated Press. While many hope for a peaceful and mission-filled talk, Tehran continues to urge their position in ensuring Assad's survival.
Bebars al-Talawy, a Homs-based activist meanwhile said, "Every assistance to Assad must be met with assistance to the opposition," as quoted by Reuters.
According to the Associated Press, Iran has already sent financing, weapons and military advisers already in aid of Assad. Meanwhile, the U.S. government has repeatedly aired out its position in asking all "key stakeholders" to take part in international talks including the outsiders that may have some solutions in their pockets to end the four-year Syrian civil war.
"The United States is prepared to work with any nation, including Russia and Iran, to resolve the conflict in Syria," White House spokesman Eric Schultz said as quoted by Reuters. Meanwhile it has been also confirmed, according to Reuters, that Egypt, Iraq, Qatar, Lebanon, the European Union and France also said they would also be attending Friday's talks.
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