US welcomes initial amount of chemical-materials removal from Syria

The US welcomes the announcement by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) that an initial amount of priority chemical materials was removed from Syria today, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Tuesday. "This represents continued progress toward the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons program," Psaki said during a briefing. "Much more needs to be done. As the international community has made clear, it is the Assad regime's responsibility to transport these chemicals to Latakia safely to facilitate their removal." Turning to the Geneva II conference on Syria scheduled for January 22, Psaki said it remains the US position that unless the Iranians support the Geneva communique, "then we do not think they should be considered for participation." The Iranians have not indicated that they want to play a positive role in an outcome in Geneva, she said. "That is different than other players who have been invited and are participating in the Geneva conference or planning to participate," she said. Iran "has done nothing but helped the (Assad) regime, help bring foreign fighters in, help the regime's efforts to brutalize the Syrian people," Psaki said. There are steps that the Iranians could take to indicate to the international community that they want to see a positive outcome to the war in Syria, but "there is no indication that they are going to do that or plan to do that," she said.