Russia insists Iran must be among Syria conference participants - Lavrov
MOSCOW. June 15 (Interfax) - Iran needs to be among participants in an international conference on Syria that Russia has proposed, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"The number of participants should be limited but it must be representative and include all the key external players. We believe that these are primarily the five permanent UN Security Council members, all of Syria's neighbors, which are Iraq, Turkey, and Lebanon, and also Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the League of Arab States and Iran," Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow on Friday.
"We deem the invitation of all potential participants that I have just mentioned, including Iran, to be absolutely essential, if we all agree to be guided by reasons of business and interests of mobilization of all opportunities that the international community has to stop violence and put the situation onto a peaceful track rather than to be guided by ideological preferences," he said.