UN Syria Envoy Due in Tehran Saturday
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The United Nation's Syria peace envoy, Staffan de Mistura, will arrive in Tehran on Saturday to hold talks with senior Iranian officials on the latest developments in the Arab country.
De Mistura plans to meet with high-ranking officials of the Islamic Republic, including foreign minister's special assistant for political affairs, Hossein Jaberi Ansari, in Tehran on Saturday.
Prior to his official visit to Iran, de Mistura traveled to Ankara and Moscow, holding talks with Turkish and Russian officials about the Syria peace process.
Iran, Russia and Turkey are the countries that launched Syria peace talks in Astana, Kazakhstan.
They also held a series of summits in Russia's Black Sea city of Sochi to bring together the conflicting parties in Syria.
Within the framework of these efforts, they agreed in Astana to establish de-escalation zones in the northern province of Idlib and parts of neighboring Latakia, Hama and Aleppo. Under the Astana agreement, Turkey is to gradually establish 12 observation points from Idlib's north to south to monitor and sustain the current cease-fire agreement for the de-escalation zones, deliver humanitarian aid and ensure the secure return of displaced people.
The leaders of the three countries have been stressing that the de-escalation zones deal has been successful in ending clashes in various locations, however, a countrywide cease-fire to end the armed conflicts has not been achieved so far.
