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Kerry: Short delay possible in Syria talks amid debate over opposition list Kerry: Sanctions relief for Iran will not threaten its neighbors
(about 1 hour later)
DAVOS, Switzerland — Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Thursday that Syrian peace talks could face a short delay next week over efforts to sort out which opposition groups can attend. DAVOS, Switzerland — Secretary of State John F. Kerry acknowledged Thursday that some of the money Iran receives from sanctions relief may be used to fund terrorist activities, but he said the Obama administration does not believe it will increase the threat to U.S. allies in the Middle East.
Kerry also noted that initial sessions will not include face-to-face meetings between envoys from Syria’s government and rebel factions. Instead, plans call for “proximity talks” in efforts to open a political path to end the nearly five-year Syrian conflict. Speaking to reporters at the World Economic Forum, Kerry said Iran has too many pressing domestic needs to devote much money to the hard-line Revolutionary Guard Corps and its support of groups that the United States and regional rivals consider terrorists. Under the nuclear deal implemented last weekend, Iran has access to about $55 billion in unfrozen assets. Some estimates place the figure at double that.
“You are not going to have a situation where they are sitting down at the table staring at each other or shouting at each other,” Kerry told reporters at the World Economic Forum in the Alpine resort of Davos, news agencies reported. “You are going to have to build some process here, and that’s what will begin.” “The calculation is that the demands of Iran and of the Rouhani administration and of the supreme leader for development in their country are such that there’s no way they can succeed in doing what they want to do if they’re very busy funding a lot of terrorism,” Kerry said.
The cautious framework highlights the complications in trying to launch a peace initiative amid discord among opposition groups and ongoing battles in Syria, including Russian airstrikes to aid Syrian government forces. [Sanctions relief could strengthen hand of Iran’s reformers, but perils remain]
Earlier, Kerry said the planned Monday start of the negotiations could face a short delay. Countries organizing the meetings have not agreed on which groups constitute the legitimate Syrian opposition and which should be designated terrorist militias and banned from the talks. Earlier in the day, the top U.S. diplomat offered a blunt assessment during an interview with CNBC.
“I think that some of it will end up in the hands of the IRGC or of other entities, some of which are labeled terrorists to some degree,” he said. “I’m not going to sit here and tell you that every component of that can be prevented. But I can tell you this: Right now, we are not seeing the early delivery of funds going to that kind of endeavor at this point in time. I’m sure at some point some of it will.”
He expanded on the remarks when asked by reporters later, saying Washington will help Iran’s neighbors counter any such activity.
“We are plussing up their capacity, where there are holes or where they think there are things that are needed,” said Kerry, who will attend a weekend meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Saudi Arabia, an archfoe of Iran. “We are confident this will not result in an increase somehow in the threat to any partner, any friend in the region.”
Kerry also said that he expects peace talks between the Syrian government and its opponents to start in Geneva next week as scheduled. But the initial encounters will probably be “proximity talks,” he said, involving different groupings in different rooms while U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura shuttles back and forth among them.
“You’re not going to have a situation where people sit at a table staring at each other or shouting at each other,” Kerry said. “You’ve got to build some process here. That’s what will begin.”
[Russian airstrikes add tangle to Syrian peace talks][Russian airstrikes add tangle to Syrian peace talks]
“It may be a day or two for invitations, but there is not going to be a fundamental delay,” Kerry said, referring to the official invitations to opposition groups selected to participate in the talks scheduled to begin Monday in Geneva. Uncertainty has surrounded the talks amid disagreements over which Syrian groups are considered legitimate opposition and which should be designated terrorist entities, meaning they will not be allowed to participate and will not be protected under a cease-fire.
“The process will begin” Monday, Kerry added, “and they will get together and see where we are.” Mohammed Alloush, whom a Saudi-backed Syrian opposition council named chief negotiator on Wednesday, said the talks cannot begin unless blockades and attacks on civilians are halted.
Kerry has pushed for the Syria talks to start soon to maintain momentum. The negotiations are meant to usher in a political transition for Syria that culminates in the formation of a new government within 18 months. Kerry characterized the concerns as “logistical” and predicted that they will not prevent the talks from commencing.
The United States also hopes to secure a guarantee that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will cede power, as U.S. forces look to focus on combating the Islamic State militant group, which controls vast territory in Syria and Iraq. But with Russia firmly in Assad’s corner, a guarantee of Assad’s departure appears unlikely. “People are already there,” he said. “Some have arrived, have hotel reservations.”
In separate meetings, Kerry joined Vice President Biden in talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Afghan President Asraf Ghani. Pakistan and Afghanistan are both under pressure for greater coordination in the fight against the Taliban and other militants. He also said tensions between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran over Riyadh’s execution of a Shiite cleric will not prevent either country from supporting the Syria talks.
Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report. “They have both stated very clearly that this will not interfere with their willingness or ability to contribute constructively to this process,” he said.
Kerry has been coming to the World Economic Forum, a gathering of elites in government and business, since he was a senator in 1980. He said the casual setting is conducive to face-to-face diplomacy.
Since arriving Wednesday night, Kerry has met with leaders and top diplomats of several countries, including Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iraqi President Haider al-Abadi.
Abadi told reporters before a meeting with Kerry that he doubts Iran was involved in the disappearance of three U.S. contractors in Iraq this weekend and said he did not know whether they had been kidnapped. Kerry said that they had discussed the contractors and that, during a separate meeting with Zarif, he asked whether Iran could help locate the men.
Kerry said he and Netanyahu discussed Israel’s announcement that it will appropriate a large tract of land south of Jericho, near the Jordanian border, a locale where Israel has built settlements on land the Palestinians want for a future state.
“He tells me it is not a building that takes place. It is a, quote, ‘planning exercise,’ ” Kerry said. “I pointed out that the history of those has always turned into a building. And that we thought this was a concern, as it has been.”
Kerry said they also talked about ways to improve the lives of Palestinians and ensure Israeli security.
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