Iran will not participate in the Geneva-II conference on the Syrian crisis because of the US's irrational insistence on setting conditions for it, Iran's deputy foreign minister said Tuesday.
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amirabdollahian said despite Iran's readiness for unconditional participation in the conference, which is aimed at finding a political solution to the Syrian crisis, the US insisted on setting preconditions for the country, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon decided the upcoming meet would proceed without Iran despite his earlier invitation to it.
A turmoil erupted after Iran, which earlier backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was invited to the meeting. The main Syrian opposition group, which had earlier decided to participate, threatened to pull out of the conference shortly after Iran confirmed about its participation in the meeting.
Geneva II is an international conference to find a political solution to the conflict in Syria and is set to begin in the city of Montreux in Switzerland Jan 22.
For months, diplomats of the UN, US and Russia have struggled to persuade both the Syrian regime and rebels opposed to it to attend the conference and find a solution to the crisis that has gripped the country since 2011.
Amirabdollahian said Washington insisted on Iran accepting the preconditions in an illogical manner, especially regarding issues which only Syria has to decide.
He said Iran clearly announced Monday that it played no role in the Geneva I meeting, including the compilation of its final statement.
Iran did not urge anybody to participate in the upcoming meeting on Syria, he said.
The UN said more than four million Syrians would be forced out of their homes in 2014 due to the escalating conflict in the country that has killed more than 100,000 people and displaced millions so far.
Head of the Strategic Research Centre of Iran's Expediency Council, Ali-Akbar Velayati said the worst part about the Geneva I statement was that it required the legitimate Syrian government and the country's foreign-sponsored terrorists who have committed various crimes against the people to form a transitional government.
Iran can never accept the Geneva I statement and believed that as long as the upcoming conference on Syria is based on that statement, Iran would not accept it as legitimate, he said.
