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December 7th, 2015 
Awake Goy TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in a telephone conversation on Monday discussed ways to resolve the Syrian crisis.
During the phone talk, Zarif and Lavrov agreed to continue coordinating joint efforts by Tehran and Moscow to implement the Vienna agreements, including compiling list of terrorist groups operating in Syria.
The two sides also discussed the ongoing crises in other parts of the Middle East.
On Sunday, an official at the Iranian foreign ministry announced that Iran is coordinating efforts with Moscow and Damascus to compile its list of dissident and terrorist groups in Syria as demanded by the last Vienna meeting on Syria.
“It was emphasized in the (recent) Vienna meeting that any country should present its list of terrorists and Jordan will collect the lists as a supervisor,” Director-General of the Foreign Ministry for Middle-East and North Africa Mohammad Irani said.
Noting that certain countries, including Saudi Arabia and Jordan, are attempting to collect the list of their desired groups as the Syrian dissidents to use it as a leverage to reach their goals in the Vienna III conference, he said, “Such measures are against the Vienna meeting declarations.”
Irani also underlined Tehran’s joint efforts with Moscow and Damascus in this regard, and said, “Iran is making coordination with the Syrian and Russian governments to compile its list of dissident and terrorist groups in Syria and will declare its views after these consultations.”
In relevant remarks on Thursday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian lashed out at the attempts made by Saudi Arabia and Jordan to hold sideline meetings on Syria, warning that such moves could harm the efforts made by around 20 nations under the Vienna declaration to resolve the Syrian crisis.
“Attempts to hold periphery meetings on Syria in Saudi Arabia and Jordan are outside (against) the Vienna declaration and they divert the political efforts made in Vienna on Syria from their natural course and push (the outcome of) the Vienna (III) meeting into failure,” Amir Abdollahian told FNA.
The Iranian deputy foreign minister reiterated that these are just the Syrian people who are entitled to decide their own fate.
Amir Abdollahian also underlined that “campaign against terrorism in the region and Syria needs the serious determination of countries”.
Also late November, Amir Abdollahian announced that the next round of negotiations on the Syrian crisis will be held in a European capital in less than one month.
“This meeting (the Vienna talks) is slated for two to three weeks from now: it will be held either in Vienna or Pars, but its exact location is not known yet,” Amir Abdollahian told reporters.
He pointed to Iran’s viewpoints on Vienna meetings, and said, “The Islamic Republic of Iran believes in summing up the fight against terrorism in Syria and following up the political trend in the Arab country.”
On November 4, Zarif underscored that the Vienna II conference on Syria was a good beginning to find a political solution to the crisis in the war-hit Arab country.
“The meeting was a good move on the road to a political solution and we have also stated our positions explicitly,” Zarif said in a meeting with Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Meqdad.
He reiterated Iran’s positions that the Syrian issue can only be resolved through a political solution, and that these are only the Syrian people who should decide their own fate, adding that others can play a facilitating role in this regard.
The first round of fresh talks on Syria was held in the Austrian capital of Vienna on October 30. Senior diplomats from a number of countries, including Iran, as well as envoys from the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) were present in the event.
The participants agreed on respecting Syria’s national unity and sovereignty as well as eradicating the terrorist groups operating in the Arab country.
It was the first time that Iran was invited to the talks. Iran was not invited to the first Geneva conference, and while the country primarily received an invitation to take part in the second Geneva conference, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon later rescinded the invitation under pressure from the United States, Saudi Arabia, and the foreign-backed Syrian opposition.
Source Article from http://theiranproject.com/blog/2015/12/07/zarif-lavrov-discuss-syrian-crisis-over-phone/
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