November 25, 2013 | Quote
Iran Nuclear Deal May Foreshadow Tehran’s Role In Syria Peace Talks
With one major diplomatic deal now agreed upon, Iran may be on track to take a formal role in negotiations to end the Syrian civil war.
Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Sunday that the United States and other global powers had reached a deal to slow Iran's nuclear activity. That agreement, and the apparent easing of relations between the U.S. and Iran, could pave the way for Tehran to take a seat at the peace talks.
“Everything now is geared towards showcasing that Iran can play a serious role,” said Tony Badran, a research fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. “It's already being brought into these kinds of arrangements … where Iran is a stakeholder.”
After months of stalled efforts by the United States and Russia to start negotiations on how to end the civil war in Syria, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon announced on Monday that the “Geneva 2” talks will finally convene on Jan. 22. “It would be unforgivable not to seize this opportunity,” he said in a statement.
The United States has so far rejected the idea of including Iran in the peace talks, and the two countries have not had formal diplomatic ties since 1979. But President Barack Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke by telephone following the United Nations General Assembly in September, the highest level of communication between the two countries in decades. The Associated Press reported on Sunday that the two countries had also been holding secret meetings in Oman for more than six months.
Badran argued that those steps signal that the United States, despite backing Iran's enemies in Syria, is hoping to draw Tehran into regional diplomacy rather than try to defeat it on the battlefield.