Russia says Iran to take part in Syria talks

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Iran, in addition to Türkiye, Syria, and Russia, should participate in the Syrian settlement process, and an agreement on this has already been reached.

The statement came following talks with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in Moscow, according to Kommersant.

On January 29, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested holding trilateral talks on the settlement in Syria. He suggested that Iran might become the fourth party to the meetings. Sergei Lavrov said he supported Ankara's interest.

"Naturally, there is now an agreement in principle to involve the Islamic Republic of Iran in this work," Lavrov said. He recalled that Russia, Iran, and Türkiye are members of the Astana troika, which deals with the Syrian issue.

"Therefore, I think it is absolutely logical that further contacts dedicated to facilitating the normalization of Turkish-Syrian relations will be accompanied by Russia and Iran," the Russian foreign minister explained.

He added that the format of Iran's participation in resolving the situation in Syria is being worked out. The Russian minister said it was necessary to move step by step, "so that each next step would bring at least some results".