US rejects Iran's participation in international meeting on Syria

The United States expressed its opposition to the inclusion of Iran in a proposed international meeting on ending Syria's violence, demanding that Tehran break its ties with Syrian government. The US "would like to see Iran play a far more constructive role than it's played", US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told a news briefing last night. She was commenting on the statement made earlier by United Nations and Arab League joint envoy to Syria Kofi Annan, who said Iran, Syria's closest ally, "should be part of the solution" of the Syrian crisis. Annan said he has been working to convene a meeting on June 30 in Geneva with ministers from "countries with influence" to discuss further measures and actions to ensure the implementation of his six-point peace plan on Syria. The former UN secretary general said he hoped that apart from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the meeting will also include governments and countries with influence on one or the other parties. "I have made it quite clear that I believe Iran should be part of the solution," he said. Nuland said the US is "continuing to work at the staff level to try to flesh out appropriate parameters for the meeting," adding that nothing has been set yet. But she clarified that the US is opposed to the involvement of Iran in this conference because it is playing "a destructive role" in Syria. "By part of the solution, we mean breaking its ties with the Assad regime, not fueling the violence," she said.