U.S. acts to open dialogue with Iran about Syria, Yemen crises

The United States opened a dialogue with Tehran on Saturday over the crises in Syria and Yemen, as USA secretary of state John Kerry met his Iranian counterpart on the sidelines of the UN general assembly.

John Kerry said talks at the United Nations this week offer a “major opportunity” to address conflict in countries from Syria to Yemen and he praised efforts made on a nuclear arms agreement brokered with Iran last month.

Kerry told Zarif of Washington’s desire to see three US citizens detained in Iran and a fourth who went missing there reunited with their families, the State Department said.

The United States officials now “understand quite obviously the importance of Iran politically, diplomatically and economically and then of course militarily in the fight against terrorism in the region”, he noted.

Shaaban said there was a “change in the West’s positions” over Syria’s war, which has killed more than 240,000 people and displaced millions since 2011.

Russian Federation has reportedly stationed four jets in addition to some T-90 tanks at an airfield near Latakia, Syria.

Zarif told reporters that Iran’s focus was on implementing the terms of the nuclear deal, calling it a “priority”.

“We always talk about American citizens with respect to their detainment in any part of the world”, Kerry said in brief remarks to reporters before sitting down with Zarif.

“Had it not been for Iran’s help, Baghdad would have fallen and certainly Daesh [Islamic State] would have been ruling in Baghdad,” he said. And I think there are opportunities this week through these discussions to make some progress.

On Friday, the Obama administration’s top Iran negotiator, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, said discussing Syria with Iranian officials would “make sense” in the context of current developments. Russia, another ally of Assad, had been boosting its military presence in Syria, supporting the government with fighter jets and other military hardware. Negotiations on the Iran deal concluded in July.

In addition, President Obama will be meeting with Russian President Vladmir Putin on Thursday to discuss issues in Syria.

Meanwhile, Moscow pressed its military buildup at a new airbase in Syria on Saturday. “The American/Turkish/Saudi position is Bashar al-Assad is the biggest problem”.

The United States has been adamant that Assad must be removed from office, however Kerry has said that Assad must step down, but not necessarily immediately upon reaching a settlement to end the country’s civil war.

“We are going to concentrate in this meeting on the full implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,” he said, using the deal’s formal title. Those critics are “living on another planet”, and their comments were “very comedic, very unusual,” he said, adding that some of them could not find Iran on a map.