Tehran, 22 November (TDI): Russian Special Envoy for Syria headed a delegation to Iran. After visiting Damascus, the officials discussed bilateral relations with Iran, especially in the Syrian crisis. Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, welcomed the presence of the authorities. 

According to the Iranian representative, countries should propose solutions within the framework of the Astana format and the inter-Syrian talks. Iran’s perspective on the Syrian crisis is clear, inter dialogue and respect for sovereignty is the only political solution to the Syrian crisis. 

Syrian Crisis: The Astana Process and conflict resolution

The Astana peace process aimed to end the Syrian conflict. The process started in January 2017 by Russia, Iran, and Turkey. In April 2018, the leaders agreed to pool forces to achieve a “lasting ceasefire” in Syria.

Likewise, the Astana process-backed Syria peace talks are based in the Kazakh capital of Astana. The parties consider the Astana peace process as a parallel UN peace process in Geneva. Therefore, the officials once again emphasized their strong commitments to the sovereignty, independence, unity, amity, and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic and the need for respecting these principles by all parties.

Moreover, the last round of Astana talks on Syria was held from July 7-8 in Kazakhstan’s capital Nur-Sultan. In a statement, the ministry announced that Turkey, Iran, and Russia alongside the Syrian government and the Syrian armed opposition groups attended the international high-level meeting. Furthermore, the high representatives of the United Nations, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq took part in the talks as observers.

Hence, this round focused on the socio-economic and sanitary-epidemiological issues and international humanitarian assistance to Syria. As well, on the resumption of the work of the Syrian Constitutional Committee in Geneva, confidence-building measures including prisoner exchanges, hostage release, and the search for missing persons.