Iranian, Russian Presidents Discuss N. Talks, Syria on Phone

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a phone conversation on Monday discussed the latest developments in the nuclear talks between Tehran and the world powers and the possibility of ending bloodshed in Syria.

The phone talk between Rouhani and Putin came two days before a scheduled meeting between negotiators from Iran and the six world powers over Tehran’s nuclear program.

President Rouhani thanked Russia’s stances on the recent talks between Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) in Geneva, and stressed, “As Iran has frequently declared, all its nuclear activities have been (for) peaceful (purposes) and under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).”

The Iranian president underlined that good progress has been made in the recent talks in Geneva, but all sides must be aware that “greediness can create problems for the win-win path of the talks”.

The Russian president, for his part, lauded “Iran’s very good cooperation in the Geneva talks”, and said, “Reaching an agreement in Geneva was so close and the talks could bring about desirable results, but, as you know, the deal was delayed due to the issue that arose.”

Putin added that both sides of the talks enjoy serious will for ending the standoff, and underlined, “Moscow is resolved to continue its efforts to lead the talks towards success… .”

The Russian president underlined that Moscow believes there is still a “real chance” to resolve the Iran-West standoff over the former’s nuclear program.

On November 10, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in a joint statement issued at the end of three days of talks in Geneva hailed progress in the negotiations between Iran and the six world powers, and said they would convene in the same venue on November 20 to remove the existing differences.

Elsewhere in their phone talk today, the two presidents discussed the conflict in Syria, and expressed support for efforts to convene an international peace conference in pursuit of an end to the civil war in the Middle-East nation.

President Rouhani pointed to Iran and Russia’s common viewpoints on the Syrian issue, and said, “Fortunately, all influential states have learnt that war is not the solution to this crisis, and they have all accepted that the terrorist groups that have and are committing inhuman and dangerous crimes in Syria pose the worst danger to the region.”

“We can promote our positive views to important agreements in the International Geneva II Peace Conference if the required conditions arise,” he continued.

The Iranian president once again underlined Tehran’s preparedness to take part in the Geneva II conference on Syria, but meantime, reiterated that Tehran accepts no precondition to this end.

Putin stressed the positive and fruitful results which can be attained through Iran’s participation in the Geneva II conference, and conferred with his Iranian counterpart on the latest developments in the region.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against Syrian police forces and border guards being reported across the country.

Too many people, including members of the security forces, have been killed, when some protest rallies turned into armed clashes.

The government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups for the deaths, stressing that the unrest is being orchestrated from abroad.

Tel Aviv, Washington and some Arab capitals have been staging various plots to topple President Bashar al-Assad, who is well known in the world for his anti-Israeli stances.