Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Thursday that the terrorists who are wearing the "new masks" need to be excluded from the peace process.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Terrorists wearing “new masks” should not sit at the negotiations table with representatives of the Syrian authorities during intra-Syrian reconciliation talks, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Thursday.

“In regard to the opposition groups that will participate at the Geneva negotiations, we have presented to UN Special Envoy for Syria [Steffan de Mistura] some Syrians who think they may be useful at these talks,” Abdollahian said at a press conference in Moscow.

Syria has been in a state of civil war since 2011, with the country’s government fighting a number of opposition factions and radical Islamist groups, including Islamic State and the Nusra Front, both of which are outlawed in Russia and many other countries.

Following several rounds of international talks on the Syrian crisis, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2254 on December 18, which sets out a road map for a peace process in Syria. The resolution calls for an immediate ceasefire and defines a January deadline for UN-facilitated talks between the Syrian government and opposition members to commence.

By Sputnik News