Russia: Iran should be part of Syria summit

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Iran should be invited to an international meeting on the Syria conflict in Geneva at the weekend. "It is better to involve Iran in the settlement (of the Syria crisis)," Putin told a news conference following talks with Jordan's King Abdullah on the shores of the Dead Sea. "In any case it would complicate the process (if Iran is ignored)." Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who accompanied Putin, told reporters separately that Moscow believes Iran has to be invited to the meeting on Saturday. "It should certainly be done," he said, adding that he would take part in the summit. He indicated that the talks without Iran would be less productive. "You have to use this chance," he said, adding that if Iran is not invited "then all those who can really influence all the main Syrian sides will not be present." He hinted that there is still a chance Iran might be invited. "We have an understanding among the most active organisers of the conference," Lavrov said. UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan wants to hold the meeting of the major powers in Geneva in a final bid to get agreement on a political transition plan for Syria. Annan has not yet officially announced the meeting. If Iran is not invited, Lavrov would still go, he said. "I will go. But in that case we will simply be talking about how to further gather together all the participants who are necessary in order to use this chance because there is no guarantee it will be crowned with success," he added. "But this chance has to be used. For this to happen you need to gather all those who have real influence on the situation. Iran is no doubt one of them." "One needs to agree to influence all Syrian sides so that they themselves sit down at the negotiating table and begin to get along and look for consensus solutions," he said. "Only they themselves can find agreement, and outside players can help them get together." Earlier, Russian UN envoy Vitaly Churkin told reporters before Security Council talks on Syria that Moscow "attaches great importance to this meeting." "As you know Russia proposed an international conference on Syria and this is very much in line with our thinking," the envoy added, describing the situation in Syria as "grim." "I hope that other planned participants are going to be there as well, so we are looking forward to it and we hope that it can provide a powerful impetus for political efforts to put an end to the conflict in Syria." The United States, Britain, France and China -- the other four permanent members of the UN Security Council along with Russia -- have not yet said whether they would attend the Geneva meeting. The violence in Syria has killed more than 15,000 people since March last year, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.