Austria joins growing voices that say Assad must be part of Syrian solution

The West should involve Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and his allies Iran and Russia in order to combat Islamic State, Austria’s foreign minister said on Tuesday, in some of the most conciliatory comments towards Assad by a Western official. Most Western countries insist Syria’s president must leave power if peace is to be restored, while Iran and Russia say he is part of the solution. That disagreement has derailed efforts to end the four-year civil war. "We need a pragmatic common approach in this respect including the involvement of Assad in the fight against Islamic State terror,“ Sebastian Kurz told reporters during a state visit to Tehran.

In my opinion the priority is the fight against terror. This will not be possible without powers such as Russia and Iran.

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz

Earlier, Iran president Hassan Rouhani said his country is ready to hold talks with the United States and Saudi Arabia on ways to resolve Syria’s civil war, providing such negotiations can secure peace and democracy in conflict-torn Syria. "Iran will sit at any table with regional countries and world powers if the outcome will be a safer, stable and democratic future for Syria,” Rouhani said, adding this is part of Iran’s commitment to “international, Islamic and humane” norms. Rouhani also urged the international community to prioritise halting the bloodshed, rather than Syrian opposition demands, such as removing Assad from power.

While people of Syria are being killed and displaced, is it really a priority to discuss opposition groups … and changes in the (Syrian) constitution?

Iran President Hassan Rouhani

Middle East Assad Iran