U.N. invitation of Iran threatens Syria peace talks

[unhappycamper]

http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-un-iran-syria-peace-talks-20140120,0,4909416.story



U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon makes an announcement at the United Nations headquarters in New York that Iran has been given a late invitation to the Syria peace conference.

U.N. invitation of Iran threatens Syria peace talks
By Patrick J. McDonnell
January 20, 2014, 2:38 a.m.

BEIRUT -- A furor has erupted about the United Nations’ decision on Sunday to invite Iran -- a staunch backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad -- to a long-anticipated Syrian peace conference scheduled to begin Wednesday in Switzerland.

The main U.S.-backed exiled opposition umbrella group, the Syrian National Coalition, has threatened to withdraw from the talks unless the invitation to Iran was retracted. The United States has also objected to Iran’s prospective participation.

The threat of a pullout from the opposition bloc came less than 48 hours after the deeply divided coalition voted on Saturday to attend the conference. That decision came despite objections from many opposition factions who view the process as a betrayal of the uprising against Assad’s government.

The so-called Geneva II conference is slated to be the first face-to-face meeting under international auspices between the Syrian government and the opposition during almost three years of conflict.