The Iranian ambassador to Russia says the Islamic Republic can play a constructive role in the Geneva 2 conference which is expected to be held on the Syrian crisis.In an interview with Russian news agency, Interfax, Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi described Iran as an influential country in the Middle East and said Tehran could play a constructive role in the upcoming conference.
The Iranian envoy further criticized the United States and its European allies for their double-standard policy on the upcoming Geneva talks, saying that the Islamic Republic takes its participation at the international event seriously.
They [Western states] have been verbally demonstrating their willingness to hold the conference. But in actual fact, we hear reports they supply weapons to the terrorists in Syria, Sajjadi noted.
On May 7, Russia and the United States agreed in Moscow to convene an international conference on Syria, which will serve as a follow-up to an earlier Geneva meeting held in June 2012.
The Syrian government has already announced that it is ready to take part in the conference without any preconditions in an effort to help end the unrest in the country.
However, the date of the long-delayed event keeps slipping as Syrias foreign-backed opposition bloc remains divided over taking part in the second round of Geneva talks.
In this regard, the Iranian ambassador stated that the so-called Syrian National Coalition has been demonstrating it has no stimulus to participate in the event.
On August 23, the US State Department said high-ranking Russian and US diplomats are set to meet at The Hague next Wednesday to discuss ways of ending the turmoil in Syria. The talks are scheduled to focus on the preparations for the Geneva 2 conference.
Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since 2011. According to reports, Western powers and their regional allies, especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, are supporting the militants operating inside Syria.
By Press TV
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