Iran to play peacemaker at non-aligned summit

A two-day summit of non-aligned countries opens in Tehran today with Iran intending to play peacemaker in the Syrian crisis.

A proposal that a troika be formed to include Egypt, Iran and Venezuela as former, current and future holders of the summit’s rotating presidency will be suggested to explore a Syria solution.

Iran continues to stand by the Assad regime and has engaged in talks with Syria’s prime minister who is attending the summit.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has already added his call for Tehran to use its influence to help end the violence.

“The Syrian people have suffered too long, too much, almost 20,000 have been killed during the last 18 months. The situation cannot go on like this. This is one of the important issues which I’m going to discuss with the Iranian leadership,” he said.

Ban has been criticised by the US for going to the summit. Tehran argues the talks are proof that Western tactics have failed. It accuses the West and Sunni Muslim countries of fuelling the Syrian civil war by supporting the rebels.

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