Iranian foreign minister on Thursday expressed Iran’s willingness to take part in next week’s international peace conference on Syria, provided no conditions are set for its participation. “If the Islamic Republic of Iran is invited like all other participants in the conference, it will take part in this event,” Mohammad Javad Zarif told a news conference after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. “We do not accept any pre-conditions for our country’s participation,” he added. The United States conditioned Iranian participation at the conference in Montreux, Switzerland, only if it is willing to agree to an agreement reached at a June 2012 peace conference in Geneva that calls for an interim government body to be established in Damascus “by mutual consent”. Washington interprets the agreement as requiring Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down but Russia and Iran have rejected this interpretation. Russia had urged United Nations’ Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to invite Iran and Saudi Arabia to the conference that commences on January 22, saying the participation of regional powers would help find a political solution to the Syrian conflict.
