Riyadh: No room for Tehran at Geneva 2

Saudi Arabia has rejected Iran’s participation in the Geneva 2 peace talks on Syria unless Tehran backs efforts for a transitional government in war-torn country.
Iran did not “announce officially and openly its agreement to the creation of a transitional government,” said a Saudi government spokesman.
This, along with the presence of Iranian “military forces fighting alongside (Syrian) regime troops” renders Tehran “unqualified to attend” the international peace conference on Syria that opens on Wednesday in Switzerland, the spokesman added.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sparked a furor Sunday by inviting Iran to the talks.
Ban’s invitation came after Tehran vowed to play a “very positive and constructive role” in efforts to end Syria’s three-year civil war.
Ahmad Ramadan, a senior member of the Syrian National Coalition, said the opposition is “suspending” its participation because an invitation was extended to Iran.
Ramadan said that Coalition’s team in charge of logistics skipped their flight to Switzerland earlier Monday because of the invitation.
Iran, a key backer of Bashar Assad’s regime, said on Monday that it would attend the peace talks but without preconditions.
Washington, London and Paris reacted immediately, saying Iran would have to clearly and publicly support the idea of a Syrian transitional government if it wanted to attend. Western powers have so far opposed Iran’s presence on the grounds that Tehran had not accepted an initial communiqué adopted by major powers in Geneva in June 2012 calling for the creation of an interim government.
Iran has strongly resisted pressure to accept the communiqué.
The Saudi statement said of this week’s conference that “its main role is to implement Geneva I.”
Saudi Arabia and other GCC states have repeatedly voiced support for freedom fighters battling the Assad regime.