Orkhan Sattarov, the head of the European bureau of Vestnik Kavkaza
Two days before the peacemaking conference on Syria, Geneva-2, a diplomatic row broke out. It seriously damaged the image of the United Nations, the main initiator of the conference. Secretary General of the UN Ban ki-Moon who suddenly invited Iran under serious pressure from the USA changed his mind and canceled his own invitation, even though recently Ban ki-Moon stated that Iran plays an important role in the region and should be invited to the conference. The official reason for cancelation of the Iranians’ invitation is their rejection of the final protocol of Geneva-1, which requires forming of a transactional government in Syria. The Iranian Foreign Ministry stated that it had never agreed for participation in the talks under any preconditions.
The odd behavior of one of the key world politicians who abruptly changed his position in few hours would hardly contribute to his image in the international society. At the same time, the incident confirms that the UN which was founded as the world and neutral organization is influenced by Washington and waits for the superpower’s reaction. Therefore, the peacemaking conference on Syria is turning into profanation, as one of the main players in the conflict is offside – the Islamic Republic of Iran. Spiegel reports that “the conference in Syria without Iran is doomed to fail.” “Tehran is one of the main allies of Bashar Assad, and only the Iranian authorities are able to persuade him to make concessions,” Spiegel concludes.
Bakhruz Abdolvand, a political scientist from Berlin Free University, told Vestnik Kavkaza that Iran considers Syria and Bashar Assad’s regime as its “foreign front” against the West. The political scientist is sure that without Iran’s opinion a settlement of the situation in Syria is impossible. Josef Braml, an expert of the German Society of Foreign Policy, agrees with Abdolvand: “The conference will have sense, only if Iran participates in it.” According to Braml, the USA made a lot of mistakes in Syria. “They have to agree with Tehran. In this case there will be new prospects for the American geopolitics. However, there are prejudges in the USA against Iran and its nuclear program,” Braml notes.
