Iran’s Zarif Slams Trump’s Foreign Policy While Lauding Tehran Summit

“As @realDonaldTrump destroys US credibility & humiliates his 'allies' with "little games", we're delighted to engage with responsible powers today in Tehran to further move towards political solution in #Syria,” Zarif said on his Twitter account on Friday.

“Agreed to work to end terrorism & avoid human suffering in #Idlib,” he added in his tweet.

The trilateral summit between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his Russian and Turkish counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, about the Syrian crisis was held in Tehran on Friday.

Ahead of the summit, the three presidents had held separate bilateral meetings on issues of mutual interest.

The meeting came as Syrian forces continue to reclaim much of southern parts of the country and are poised to soon launch an offensive in Idlib, one of the last remaining areas outside of Damascus’ control.

In April, the presidents of Iran, Russia, and Turkey - the three guarantor states of de-escalation zones in Syria - held a meeting in Ankara to discuss ways for peaceful settlement of the crisis in Syria.

The three countries have so far held several rounds of peace talks in Kazakhstan’s Astana and elsewhere to help end the conflict in Syria. The fourth round of those talks in May 2017 produced a memorandum of understanding on de-escalation zones in Syria, sharply reducing fighting in the country.

Diplomatic efforts to end fighting in Syria gained momentum in 2017 with the announcement of a ceasefire in the Arab country in early January.

According to a report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.

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