(Sputnik) —Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that Iran is “strenuously opposed” to American presence at the talks, while Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani said that Americans will have a negative impact on the talks. On December 17, 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the possibility of a meeting between the Syrian conflicting parties in Astana. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev supported the initiative and expressed readiness to provide a platform for such talks in the Kazakh capital. On January 17, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow considered it appropriate to invite representatives of the new US administration to the talks. READ MORE OF THIS STORYSOURCE: News Now/ Sputnik(Visited 5 times, 1 visits today)Commentscomments

Source: GNN Liberia January 18, 2017 23:00 UTC