Details of Syrian Ceasefire Still under Negotiation: Iran’s FM
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday that the details of a recent agreement between major global players over the cessation of hostilities in Syria are still being negotiated.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has always believed that the Syrian crisis has no military solution and the only way is (the establishment of) dialogue among Syrian people. Other parties’ duty is to facilitate the talks,” Zarif said in a joint press conference with his Bosnian counterpart Igor Crnadak here in Tehran.
“In the initiatives proposed by Iran, emphasis has been put on ceasefire as the first step,” the Iranian top diplomat noted.
A truce will not allow such terrorist groups as Daesh (ISIL), Nusra Front, Ahrar al-Sham, and other Al-Qaeda affiliated groups to continue their operation, Zarif said, stressing that the supply of aid to terrorist groups and new recruitments by Daesh and Nusra Front should be halted in a ceasefire.
“The details of the (proposed) ceasefire, whose original version was finalized in Munich, are under negotiation, and they have yet to be agreed upon,” he said.
Zarif also expressed the hope that regional countries, Saudi Arabia in particular, which have been fanning the flames of war in the Middle East, would realize as soon as possible that the only way forward is a change in their attitude in the region.
Attempts to negotiate a truce in recent months have failed. World powers agreed in Munich on Feb. 12 to a cessation of hostilities that would let humanitarian aid be delivered in Syria, but the ceasefire that was scheduled to start a week later did not take effect.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday he and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov have reached a “provisional agreement in principle” on Syria ceasefire.
Kerry said he spoke with Lavrov to discuss terms of a ceasefire and the two now must reach out to the parties in the conflict.
He declined to go into the details of the agreement because all parties need to be fully consulted.
Kerry said he hoped President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin would talk soon and that after that, implementation could begin.
Meanwhile Syrian army offensives continue successfully across the country, backed by Russian airstrikes.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said last week he would keep fighting terrorism, vowing to retake the whole country from terrorists.