WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Iran will not attend peace talks on the Syrian civil war due to take place in Switzerland this month, senior State Department officials said on Friday.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that barring a dramatic change in Tehran’s position, Iran would neither participate formally in the January 22 talks nor join informally on the sidelines.
“That’s right, they’re not coming,” said one of the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.
On Sunday, Secretary of State John Kerry had said there might be ways that Iran, which has backed and armed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government, could “contribute from the sidelines” at the so-called Geneva 2 peace conference, which will take place in Montreux, Switzerland.
Iran appeared to reject the offer the next day.
