Kerry: Iran May Play ‘Sideline’ Role in Syria Talks

US, France Won't Allow Direct Participation

Though the US and France are continuing to rule out allowing Iran to attend the Geneva II peace talks, Secretary of State John Kerry says the US may allow Iran to play a “sideline” role since they’ve got a delegation in Geneva and all.

Though Russia was initially pushing for Iran to play a part in trying to end the Syrian Civil War, the US demanded that Iran agree to regime change in Syria as the goal of the talks, and when they refused, they rejected their involvement.

Though a lot of nations are coming to the talks, virtually no rebel factions are going to attend, and the Kurdish bloc also hasn’t been invited, meaning the talks are going to center around a few Syrians and scores of Western officials with no real prospect for a deal.

Though still presented as Geneva II, the talks aren’t actually going to be in Geneva, because a luxury watch fair is scheduled for the same weekend and they already got all the good hotels.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.