(United Nations) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon withdrew a last-minute invitation to Iran to attend peace talks on Syria after the Syrian opposition threatened to boycott this week’s conference if President Bashar Al Assad’s main sponsor took part. Ending nearly 24 hours of confusion that dismayed diplomats who have spent months cajoling Assad’s opponents to negotiate, Ban’s spokesman said Iran was no longer welcome at the initial day of talks at Montreux, Switzerland.
The opposition immediately withdrew its threat to stay away from the conference known as Geneva-2. Ban, his spokesman said, made the invitation to Iran after Iranian officials assured him they supported the conclusion of a UN conference in 2012, known as Geneva-1, which called for a transitional administration to take over power in Syria – something neither Assad nor Tehran have been willing to embrace.
