Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 28
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham confirmed that the Islamic Republic has been invited to participate in Syria summit in Vienna scheduled for Oct. 30.
The Iranian official also said that Iran's participation in the summit is still under study.
She said that Iran 's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov spoke on the phone yesterday evening and this morning about Syria, Iran 's semi-official Fars news agency reported Oct. 28.
She further said that the talks were focused on the upcoming Vienna summit on the crisis in Syria.
Western media outlets earlier reported that Iran has been invited by the United States and Russia to participate in talks in Vienna to discuss ending the conflict in Syria, and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian would attend the talks.
The Vienna summit is aimed at finding a framework for political transition in Damascus, the US State Department said on Oct. 27.
Tehran has always expressed support for the government of the Syrian President Bashar Assad. The Islamic Republic views the Syrian regime as its main strategic ally in the region and as part of an "axis of resistance" against Israel.
The Western countries accuse Iran of running military operations in Syria, but Tehran denies the accusations. Iranian officials have repeatedly stressed that they only render military consultations to the Syrian forces.
While Washington has opposed Iran 's support of Assad and Lebanon 's Hezbollah in Syria, it has insisted that Iran needs to be included in the talks on Syria 's future. A top US military officer said on Oct. 28 there were fewer than 2,000 Iranian troops in Syria helping Assad's forces.
Edited by CN
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