Iran takes initiative to find solutions for Syria Crisis

Iran hosts Syria talks, calls for national dialogue
9 August, 2012 – By Mohammad Davari – Agence France Presse

TEHRAN: Iran on Thursday hosted a 29-nation conference on Syria with the aim of stopping bloodshed there and forging a role for Tehran as peace-broker for its beleaguered Arab ally.

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi opened the meeting by calling for “national dialogue between the (Syrian) opposition, which has popular support, and the Syrian government to establish calm and security,” according to state television.

He added that Iran was prepared to host any such dialogue.

Salehi said Iran was opposed to “any foreign interference and military intervention in resolving the Syrian crisis” and supported efforts extended by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

He said Iran had sent humanitarian aid to Syria to make up for international sanctions on Damascus that he said “are not in the interest of the Syrian people but have added to their suffering.”

Excluded from the Tehran meeting were Western and Gulf Arab nations that Iran has accused of giving military backing to the bloody near 17-month insurgency seeking to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad.

State media said the foreign ministers of Iraq, Pakistan and Zimbabwe were present.

Lower-ranking diplomats, most of them ambassadors, represented the other nations.

Salehi listed those nations as: Afghanistan, Algeria, Armenia, Benin, Belarus, China, Cuba, Ecuador, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Mauritania, Nicaragua, Oman, Russia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

A representative of the United Nations was also present.
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