Tehran, Oct 31, IRNA � Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his accompanying delegation returned home late on Friday from Vienna where they took part in an international meeting on Syria.


They were in the Austrian capital to attend Syria peace talks, also follow up implementation process of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA.)

Turkey, the United States of America, Saudi Arabia and Russia held a quadripartite meeting on Syria peace talks on Thursday.

On Friday, the talks started officially with participation of 16 world states.

The foreign ministers of 16 countries and Chinese deputy foreign minister as well as representatives of the European Union and the United Nations convened in Vienna on Friday to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis.

At the end of their meeting the participants of the Vienna-II conference issued a joint communiqu�.

China, Egypt, France, Germany, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, The European Union, the United Nations, and the United States (the participants) came together to discuss the grave situation in Syria and how to bring about an end to the violence as soon as possible.

The participants had a frank and constructive discussion, covering major issues. While substantial differences remain among the participants, the communique reads in part.

They will spend the coming days working to narrow remaining areas of disagreement, and build on areas of agreement. Ministers will reconvene within two weeks to continue these discussions.

China was the only participating country that attended Syria peace talks at the level of deputy foreign minister.

By IRNA