U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon withdrew a last-minute invitation to Iran to attend peace talks on Syria on Monday after the Syrian opposition threatened to boycott this week's conference if President Bashar al-Assad's main sponsor took part.I would also note that US Secretary of State John Kerry was also having a hissy fit over Iran showing up.
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 on Wednesday.
The opposition immediately withdrew its threat to stay away from the conference known as Geneva-2. But the uproar over Iran, which has provided Assad with money, arms and men, underlined the difficulties of negotiating an end to a bloody, three-year civil war that has divided the Middle East and world powers.
Ban, his spokesman said, made the invitation to Iran after Iranian officials assured him they supported the conclusion of a U.N. 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.
Throughout Monday Iranian officials made clear that they were not endorsing that conclusion as a basis for the talks.
This is all about the United States, and the Syrian exiles, supporting the House of Saud's agenda of both hostility toward secular Arab regimes, and support toward Sunni hegemony in the region.
Doing the Saudi's bidding might be unavoidable for the Syrian National Council, they are clearly clients of Riyadh, but for the US, intervening in a 1400 year old sectarian dispute is a losing proposition.
Doing the bidding of Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saudr is not in America's best interest.
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