President Hassan Rouhani of Iran said Wednesday that peace talks to resolve the Syrian civil war will fail because some countries support the instability.
“Because of the lack of influential players in the meeting, I doubt about the Geneva 2 meeting’s success in fighting against terrorism … and its ability to resolve the Syria crisis,” Rouhani said, according to Reuters.
Rouhani’s statement, published on the presidential website, came as the first day of peace talks in Switzerland started with disagreements over whether Syrian strongman Bashar Assad can remain in power. Iran, an Assad ally, was invited to participate in the conference but that invitation was later withdrawn under American protest.
“The Geneva 2 meeting has already failed without it even being started,” Rouhani said.