Iran"s Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian[/caption]TEHRAN (Tasnim) An Iranian deputy foreign minister described the talks on the prolonged crisis in Syria, now in progress in Switzerland, as a political show, saying he was highly skeptical about fruitfulness of the conference.
The much delayed Geneva 2 peace conference on Syria kicked off in the Swiss city of Montreux today with the aim of putting an end to the fighting that has raged in the Arab country since March 2011.
Meanwhile, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahiansaid on Wednesday that the Geneva conference is rather similar to a political show.
We believe that the meeting would not achieve a proper result, he told reporters in Tehran.
Amir Abdollahian insisted that a political settlement of the Syrian conflict does require Syrian-Syrian meetings alone, which could determine the future of the Arab country.
Outsiders are not allowed to decide on Syria and the future of that country, he underlined.
Geneva 2 is the second sequel of Geneva 1 conference held in June 2012 in which international parties laid out a peace plan for Syria that calls for a transitional governing body.
As regards the absence of Iran in the Geneva talks on Syria, Amir Abdollahian touched on the US pressure on the United Nations to persuade the global body to ignore Iran in the meeting, saying Washington seeks to make arbitrary decisions for settlement of the Syrian crisis.
On Sunday, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had officially invited Iran to attend the first day of the Geneva 2 peace conference, but later on Monday, he withdrew his invitation to Iran in an extraordinary turnabout, under pressure from the United States.
Syria's war that started in 2011 has killed over 130,000 people so far and forced more than 2 million to flee abroad. Another 4 million have been displaced inside the country.
By Tasnim News Agency
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