Austria hosts world powers for Syria talks

Nov 04, 2015 More than a dozen world leaders recently headed to Vienna for a fresh round of talks aimed at ending Syria’s four-year civil war.

During the meeting, U.S Secretary of State John Kerry met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Prior to the meeting, Zarif had told reporters that he would only discuss the July nuclear deal with Kerry adding that there was no solution to the Syrian crisis without Iran.

The main convener and host of the talks, Sebastian Kurtz, Austria’s foreign minister said:

“We have the United States, Saudi Arabia and Turkey on one side, and on the other side, Russia and Iran, who are working in a totally different direction, also militarily. And so it’s crucial that the super powers, the USA and Russia, but also the regional powers all work together in the same direction, and only if they support one process together, will this process have a chance. We have to do this at the negotiating table and everyone has to be represented. The fact that Iran is here this time is an enormous step forwards, which a few weeks ago, we didn’t dare dream would happen,”

The talks in Vienna represented the first time Iran and Saudi Arabia met across the table since the Syrian conflict erupted in 2011.