Opposition call for talks a ploy to gain bigger power share: Iran official

An Iranian parliamentary official has dismissed the U-turn in the Syrian opposition’s policy and their call for talks as a change of strategy after their failure in armed struggle.

“The offer of negotiations is the Syrian opposition’s change of tactics with the aim of gaining bigger share (of power),” Hossein Sheikholeslam, director general of Iran Majlis for international affairs, said on Tuesday.

Sheikholeslam added that foreign-sponsored militants did their best to topple the Syrian government by military action and victimizing the Syrian nation.

But when the opposition forces and their backing states noticed the resistance of Syrian President Basher al-Assad’s government and the Syrian nation’s support for him, they concluded that they cannot succeed through a military approach and turned to a political approach and negotiations, he said.

On Monday, Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, who heads the so-called National Coalition for Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, repeated his willingness for “direct discussions” with representatives of the Syrian government in Cairo, Tunis or Istanbul. The coalition and other foreign-backed opposition groups had previously ruled out any negotiations unless President Assad stepped down.

Sheikholeslam called on the Syrian nation not to be intrigued by the so-called opposition’s change of policy plotted by the United States and their regional supporters, reiterating the opposition of influential countries including Iran, China and Russia to any foreign intervention in the Arab country.

“Real critics of the Syrian government are Syria’s unarmed opposition who are seeking a solution to reform the country and are seeking to resolve the crisis in Syria through democratic means,” he stated.

In December 2012, the Islamic Republic released the details of the long-awaited plan, which urges talks between the Syrian government and representatives of all Syrian groups regardless of their political and social tendencies in order to form a national reconciliation committee.

The plan also calls for an immediate end to all violent and military action under the UN supervision, an end to all economic sanctions imposed against the country and the return of displaced civilians to their homes.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of security forces, have been killed in the turmoil that Damascus says is being orchestrated from outside the country.