Iran’s FM Warns against “Irrational Preconditions” for Settling Syria Crisis

In a Tuesday meeting with his Croatian counterpart Vesna Pusic in New York, Zarif underscored the necessity for avoiding “irrational preconditions” which can prolong the crisis in Syria.

He further explained Iran’s political plan to end the Syrian crisis, saying that cessation of conflicts and reaching a fair solution towards sustainable peace hinge on the formation of an inclusive transitional government with the participation of all parties involved.

Pusic, for her part, highlighted the impacts of Syrian refugees’ crisis on European countries, including Croatia, stressing that the issue (refugee crisis) can reinforce the seriousness of European states on the resolution of Syrian crisis through political and peaceful ways.

Last year, Iran proposed a four-part plan for finding a political solution to the ongoing crisis in Syria, which was welcomed by the UN. Iranian officials say that plan has now been updated.

Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011. In the past four years, more than 240,000 people have died in Syria -overwhelmingly civilians– and around 4 million Syrian people are now refugees in other countries. Another 7.6 million are displaced inside Syria.

Elsewhere in the meeting, the two sides conferred on bilateral ties in different economic and cultural fields as well as tourism, medicine, transport, and the expansion of parliamentary ties.

Exchange of political and trade delegations as well as invitations for Zarif’s visit to Croatia and Pusic’s trip to Iran were also raised by the two foreign ministers during the meeting.