Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 23 / Trend, S. Isayev, T. Jafarov
Before giving Iran conditions, the U.S. political leaders must first exit their oblivion, Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani said during his speech in the country's parliament, Fars news agency reported.
Larijani's remarks came in response to the conditions that came from the US officials regarding the upcoming Nov. 23 Geneva 2 conference on Syrian conflict.
According to the US, Iran, if it participates in the conference, should accept two conditions, first of which is to accept the result of the conference, and second - that country's president Bashar Al-Assad should not participate in the new presidential elections in Syria.
"The U.S. officials are either in oblivion or mentally sick asking for this," Larijani said. "First, if we recall the Geneva 1 conference, the U.S. officials didn't want Iran to participate in it, and Iran did not. We only asked to solve problems in Syria via negotiations, and as a result, the U.S. and others who participated in the conference didn't pay attention to the results of the first conference, and started war in Syria."
"And now, they're presenting Iran with conditions. There's no need for that," the speaker said.
Larijani went on to ask that if Syrian people do not support Assad, why the U.S. is so afraid of him being in presidential elections.
"The U.S. cannot dictate who can participate in Syrian presidential elections, and who cannot, this is against international laws," Larijani said.
Earlier this month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated his country's support for Iran's participation in the Geneva II Peace Conference, and welcomed the western countries' more realistic view about Iran's influential role in the region, particularly in ending the current bloodshed in Syria.
Also in October, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said Iran would not accept any prerequisite for participating in the upcoming Geneva II talks on Syria.
Afkham's remarks came in reaction to US State Department Spokeswoman Marie Harf's earlier statements that Washington might be better disposed to Iran's taking part in the Geneva II conference if Tehran were to embrace the original Geneva communiqué.
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.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed since some sporadic 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.