Iran has threatened to withdraw from the Syria peace talks over the "unconstructive" and "negative" role of Saudi Arabia in recent international talks on the Syrian crisis.
"In the first round of talks, some countries, especially Saudi Arabia, played a negative and unconstructive role ... Iran will not participate if the talks are not fruitful," Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian told the official news agency ISNA, according to Asian Age. International talks on the Syrian crisis were held on Friday in Vienna, Austria.
Abdollahian also made it clear that Iran will not support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's removal under the pretext of solving the crisis, according to Business Standard. He also said that Iran will support an election and dialogue among political parties in the war-torn country
Abdollahian's remarks came hours after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani criticized Saudi Arabian "intrusions" in the Middle East. "If Saudi Arabia's vision on the big regional questions confronts reality and it stops its intrusions, we can solve many problems, especially in our relations," Rouhani said during a diplomatic gathering in Tehran on Monday, according to Tribune.
"If Saudi Arabia's outlook on general regional issues is brought closer to realities and it renounces its meddling, many problems including those concerning relations can be solved in the new conditions," the Iranian president said, according to The New York Times.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned last week that the Syrian conflict could turn into a "proxy war" between Russia and the United States, as HNGN reported previously. His warning comes after the U.S. announced that it will deploy about 50 special operation forces in northern parts of Syria to advise and assist opposition forces fighting the Islamic State group
