Other States Can Be Invited to Monitor Syria Ceasefire - Iran

The agreements reached between countries-guarantors of Syria ceasefire, namely Russia, Iran and Turkey, at Astana talks stipulate that other countries might be invited to participate in the monitoring of the truce, the head of the Iranian delegation, Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari said Thursday.

ASTANA (Sputnik) — The second round of Astana talks is held in Kazakhstan's capital on February 15-16. On Wednesday, Russian, Iranian, Jordanian and Syrian delegations held a number of technical meetings.

"According to the agreement of the three parties [Iran, Turkey and Russia] other countries can be invited, we can invite them as observers," Ansari told reporters.

Participants of the Astana talks discussed all issues of the Syrian reconciliation and are in the beginning of the path to the Syrian crisis resolution, Ansari said.

"We discussed all issues with participants linked to the ceasefire," Ansari told reporters.

According to the official, the sides are "in the beginning of the way" to reconciliation, and it is important to take "right steps." He did not rule out that future meetings could take place on higher level.

The first round of Astana talks on Syrian crisis settlement brought together the representatives of the Syrian government and the armed opposition groups for the first time in the six years of the Syrian war. As a result of the talks, Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed to establish a trilateral mechanism to monitor the ceasefire that came into effect on December 30, 2016.