Iranian, Russian Diplomats Discuss Syria, Yemen
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A delegation of ranking Russian diplomats visited Tehran and held talks with an assistant of Iran’s foreign minister on the latest developments in the war-hit countries of Syria and Yemen and the upcoming conference in Russia’s Sochi on the settlement of the Syrian crisis.
The Russian delegation, comprising Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentiev and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin, met with Iranian foreign minister’s special assistant for political affairs, Hossein Jaberi Ansari, here in Tehran on Saturday.
Jaberi Ansari is also Iran’s top negotiator in the peace talks on Syria and Yemen.
During the three-hour meeting, the two sides discussed the latest political developments in Syria and obstacles to the formation of a Syrian constitutional committee, including a finalized list of the civil society’s representatives in the committee.
The Iranian and Russian diplomats also talked about the agenda and the draft communiqué of the upcoming summit of the Astana process for Syria peace, due to be held in Russia’s Sochi on February 14.
Moreover, Jaberi Ansari and Vershinin exchanged views on the most recent developments in Yemen, as well as the status of implementation of the Stockholm ceasefire agreement.
Representatives from Yemen’s warring sides met in Sweden in December and signed a UN-sponsored deal aimed at ending more than three years of war that have ravaged Yemen. Under the Stockholm agreement, the parties agreed on a ceasefire in Hudaydah province and to withdraw their respective forces.
The Saudi-led coalition and their mercenaries, however, have repeatedly violated the ceasefire in Hudaydah province by attacking areas in and around the province’s capital.
Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out deadly airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.
