Moscow, Washington at odds over Iran’s presence in Syria

Tabnak – Amid the US pressures to limit the scope of Iran’s activities in Syria and its attempts to convince Russia to play a role in this regard, Moscow once again calls Iran’s presence in Syria lawful and legitimate. Meanwhile, Iran has reportedly invited to a conference on the Syrian constitution to be held in Geneva by the United Nations.

In this vein, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov says Russia respects Iran’s presence in Syria which he described as lawful amid reports that the US was pressuring Moscow on Tehran's role in the Arab country.

“Iran is present in Syria at the invitation of its lawful authorities,” Ryabkov told TASS on Thursday. However, he didn’t totally reject the idea of working with Washington on the issue, saying that “there is space for work in this issue.”

Ryabkov recently took part in the negotiations between Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and United States National Security Advisor John Bolton.

“We treat with great respect Iran’s steps to provide its own security and actions, including on Syria at the invitation of this country’s lawful government. However, this does not mean that there are no prospects or space for further work in this sphere,” the Russian deputy foreign minister stated.

He added that the issue of Iran’s presence in Syria was discussed in the Russia-US talks in the broader context of the situation in the Middle East and in Syria. “We’ve got many inconsistencies with the Americans in this area,” the senior diplomat said. “Approaches are directly opposite in some cases, but here as well, which is important, there are grounds for continuing dialogue regarding Syria.”

Ryabkov reiterated that Russia is working with Iran on Syria in the Astana format. “In the near future, new contacts will take place, including on the Geneva platform, which we regard as an important component of greater work. Sochi and Astana cannot replace Geneva; these are independent venues, and all these tracks complement each other. We presume that Tehran has similar views on it.”

Meanwhile, a UN spokeswoman says United Nations Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura has invited Iran, Russia and Turkey to talks due to be held in Geneva next month on forming Syria's Constitutional Committee.

"Special Envoy de Mistura continues his consultation on the establishment of a Syrian-led, Syrian-owned and UN facilitated Constitutional Committee within the framework of the Geneva process and in accordance with Security Council Resolution 22-54 2015," Alessandra Vellucci said at a news conference on Friday.