Emphasizing that he was speaking only for himself, Annan, a former U.N. secretary general, held a news conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi after a meeting in which they discussed how Iran — a stalwart ally of Assad’s — might help end the violence.
“I have received encouragement and cooperation from the minister and the government and am looking forward to continue working together to resolve this conflict,” Annan said. “The U.N. has pushed very hard for an end to the violence. We want all sides to stop the violence. . . . We are opposed to any further militarization of the conflict.”
Annan, a joint envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League on the Syria crisis, has tried in vain to implement a peace plan. He first focused on an approach that would have included a cease-fire starting in April and then turned to a proposal for a transitional government forged at an international conference in Geneva, which did not include representatives from Iran.
On Monday, Annan said that he had met at length with Assad and had established “an approach” for stopping the violence that he intended to share with rebel leaders.
The Syrian opposition, however, has said any plan to end the conflict must start with Assad’s departure — a precondition Assad shows no sign of being willing to accept.
After meeting with Salehi, Annan reiterated the need for a speedy solution to the conflict. Salehi, he said, “has made it clear that if we do not make a real effort to resolve this issue peacefully, and it were to get out of hand and spread throughout the region, it could lead to consequences that none of us could imagine.”
Salehi reasserted Iran’s desire to be a part of ending the crisis. “Mr. Annan has said explicitly over and over that Iran is part of the solution and not part of the problem,” he said. “We have expressed our views very clearly that people of Syria, just like other people, have the right to freedom, free election . . . and the government of Syria should meet the legitimate demands of their people.”
At the same time, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, cautioned against efforts by “foreigners” to intervene in the conflict, echoing repeated statements by Assad that the rebels have been organized and influenced by outside terror groups and enemies of the state.
“The solution to Syria’s crisis is a Syrian solution that should be implemented by its people and government without the interference of foreigners,” said Jalili, who also met with Annan during his visit.
Iran has strengthened Assad’s military in recent years, providing it with advisers, advanced communications technology and weapons, according to the Associated Press. All of this makes Iran unlikely to support change in Syria.
“Inviting Iran to discuss how to best transition to a post-Assad Syria is akin to inviting vegetarians to a barbecue,” Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran analyst with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the AP.
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