Nations agree to restart Syria peace talks

A senior USA official, meanwhile, says Russia’s military intervention into a conflict that has killed more than 250,000 people and forced 11 million from their homes will drag Moscow into a “quagmire” that will alienate Sunni Muslims. He added that he hoped for further compromises to end the four year civil war in Syria.

Syria dominated discussions at the gathering of Western and Arab officials in the Bahraini capital.

The United States has been carrying out aistrikes against fighters with the self-declared “Islamic State” in Syria, but on Friday Washington announced it would also send a small contingent of special forces to the country’s north to help in the anti-jihadist fight.

“Iran does not insist on keeping Assad in power forever”, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian, a member of Tehran’s delegation at the Syria talks, was quoted by Iranian media as saying.

Kerry and Lavrov said another round of Syria talks would occur within two weeks.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the fact that the talks in Vienna included regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran was an achievement in itself.

Al-Jubeir, who arrived from Vienna to the Gulf island nation overnight, downplayed the significance of what had been achieved at the talks in Vienna, declaring in Bahrain that “We have not been able to reach agreement”.

Representatives from Iran and the P5+1 group of countries – the United States, Britain, France, China and Russian Federation plus Germany – held several rounds of negotiations on the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna on Thursday and Friday. The Islamic Republic has given Assad’s government billions of dollars in aid and large amounts of weapons since fighting began.

Nevertheless, a commitment from Iran to a defined time limit for a transition could be viewed as a significant undertaking, potentially forming a basis for future diplomacy at a time when Assad’s position has been strengthened by Russia’s decision to join the war on his side.

Iran has deployed what it says are military advisers to support the government and has had casualties in the conflict, though it denies the presence of Iranian combat troops in Syria.

“I did not say that Assad has to go or that Assad has to say”, Lavrov said through an interpreter.

“We are on the tail end of a huge infrastructure development program in terms of airports, roads, hospitals, highways, housing and so forth and so there was a lot of spending”, said Jubeir.

Blinken was less blunt when it came to a timetable for Assad’s departure.

The measure would be part of a package of other steps to beef up the fight against Islamic State, including sending more warplanes to the region and discussing with Iraq the establishment of a special forces task force there.