TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov met in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Saturday on the sidelines of a meeting for talks on the crisis in Syrian.

The two senior diplomats discussed the latest developments in Syria and the agenda of the ongoing meeting in Lausanne that has brought together senior diplomats for talks on the settlement of a crisis that has plagued the Arab country for more than five years.

Separately, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari, who accompanies Zarif in the trip to Switzerland, had a telephone conversation with Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad for talks about the conditions in Syria and about the Lausanne talks.

Iran was persuaded to take part in the talks after Russia and the other parties accepted part of its conditions and also agreed on an increase in the number of the participants.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, Russia’s Lavrov, UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura, as well as top diplomats from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar has taken part in the Lausanne talks.

Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with various terrorist groups, including Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL), currently controlling parts of it.

Some 470,000 Syrians have been killed throughout the five years of bloodshed, 4.8 million have fled the country, and 6.6 million have become internally displaced by the violence.

By Tasnim News Agency