A high-ranking diplomat said nobody should decide on behalf of the Syrian nation, even if finding a political solution for the five-year-long Syrian crisis takes a long time.
Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the statement on Friday, IRNA reported.
Referring to calls by some regional and trans-regional states, including Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the US, for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down from power, the deputy minister said the decision about the Syrian president is up to Syrians.
On the date of the next round of international talks on Syria, Amir-Abdollahian said the meeting will be held in “two or three weeks” and the location “has not been determined yet”, but Vienna and Paris are possible venues.
The first round of Vienna meetings on Syria was held on October 30 and the second round of November 14, where senior diplomats from a number of influential countries, including Iran, as well as envoys from the United Nations and the European Union attended the talks.
The participants agreed on respecting Syria’s national unity and sovereignty as well as eradicating the terrorist groups operating in the Arab country.
Previous conferences, known as Geneva I and Geneva II, failed to achieve anything in terms of resolving the conflict in the Arab country.
The diplomat said the political process should be pursued in parallel with the battle against terrorists, adding that it is up to everyone to clear the path for the Syrian people to defeat terrorists.
Amir-Abdollahian also touched upon the recent war of words between Turkey and Russia over the Turkish downing of a Russian warplane near Syria-Turkey border last Tuesday.
“While Russia is confronting terrorist groups, it is a mistake to hit a plane which is bombing terrorists,” he said.
“From the beginning, we urged the two sides to observe restraint. All sides should unite against terrorism in Syria.”
