Syrian PM: Geneva Deal Entails Positive Outcomes for Region

Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi said the recent nuclear deal struck between Iran and the six world powers will have positive outcomes for the situation in the region.
“The agreement is a historical victory for the leadership, president and people of Iran and will also have positive effects both on the regional conditions and the global situation,” Halqi said in a meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran on Sunday.

“These achievements were the products of the Iranian nation’ resistance, the Leader’s guidelines and (President) Dr. Rouhani’s prudence, and the same factors ensured Iran’s natural right of access to the peaceful nuclear technology,” he added.

During the meeting, Rouhani stressed the Iranian government’s massive and large-scale efforts to prevent war in Syria, and said, “Iran has been active on the political scene and will use all its efforts to prevent the imposition of war on Syria and the region.”

Iran and the G5+1(the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) reached an agreement in Geneva on November 23 after days of intensive negotiations.

After and before the deal, the two sides’ officials announced that they don’t intend to hold talks on issues other than Iran’s nuclear program, but observers believe that the meetings that the Iranian and Russian delegations had with the UN-Arab League Joint Special Envoy on Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, on the sidelines of the Iran-world powers Geneva III negotiations late November suggested that the Syrian issue constituted a main topic of the talks between Iran and the sextet.

Upon arrival in Geneva, Brahimi had a meeting with Zarif and then the Russian foreign minister arrived in Geneva and had bilateral talks with the UN envoy. Later in the same day, Zarif and Lavrov jointly met with Brahimi, and a few hours later, the UN envoy on Syria moved to the Intercontinental hotel which hosted the Iranian and world powers’ delegations for the nuclear talks.

Although there has not been any report on the possible meeting of the seven states with Brahimi on Syria, many analysts believe that the western powers had accepted to give some concessions to Iran in the Syrian case, including its participation in the upcoming Geneva II conference without any precondition, in a bid to motivate Iran to sign the nuclear deal with them.

After Brahimi’s bilateral and trilateral talks with Zarif, Lavrov and his separate meetings with the western diplomats, he said that the Geneva II conference on Syria, set for January 22, would start “without any preconditions”.
Then one day after Iran and the world powers struck a nuclear deal, the UN announced last Monday that the Syrian government and opposition negotiators would meet for the first time since start of the country’s 32 month-old crisis in Geneva on 22 January. UN leader Ban Ki-moon said in announcing the landmark conference that it would be “a mission of hope”.

After the UN announced the date for the gathering, Zarif said Tehran would be in Geneva on January 22, unless the US-led West tries to set a precondition for Tehran.

The US has long tried to ask for prerequisites to allow Tehran’s participation in the conference, but after Iran’s ally, the Syrian government, made major advances and pushed back terrorists in the battlefield and the Geneva talks between Iran and the world powers, Washington now seems to have changed its approach.

Iran has repeatedly announced that it would never accept any prerequisite for its participation in the conference, reminding that no regional crisis can be soothed or solved without the aid, views and cooperation of Iran as a regional power. In relevant remarks late September, President Rouhani underlined that Tehran is ready to take part in the planned Geneva II conference on the Syrian crisis, but “without any preconditions”.

“If invited without any preconditions, Iran will participate in the Geneva II conference in order to help resolve the Syrian crisis,” he said in a meeting with Brahimi in New York in September.

During the meeting, which was held on the sidelines of the 68th annual session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Iranian president urged an immediate settlement to the ongoing conflict in Syria.

Brahimi, for his part, briefed the Iranian president on the latest developments in Syria and said he would like to see Tehran attend the upcoming Geneva II conference.

Iranian officials have repeatedly underlined that Tehran is in favor of negotiations between the Syrian government and opposition groups to create stability in the Middle Eastern country.

In November 2012, Iran hosted a meeting between the representatives of the Syrian government and opposition to encourage them to start talks to find a political solution to their problems. The National Dialogue Conference kicked off work in Tehran mid November with the motto of ‘No to Violence, Yes to Democracy”.

The meeting brought together almost 200 representatives of various Syrian ethnicities, political groups, minorities, the opposition, and state officials.

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

Thousands of people have been killed since terrorist and armed groups turned protest rallies into armed clashes.

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