Russia says Iran should attend Syria peace talks

Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday that Russia supports Iran's participation in the Geneva II peace talks on Syria.

Lavrov said all parties involved in the Syrian struggle should be present at the talks. Some media outlets have reported that Iran's Revolutionary Guard is present in Syria, as is the Lebanese Shiite political movement Hezbollah. Hezbollah receives most of its funding from Iran and is a close political and ideological ally.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has urged Congress not to seek further sanctions on Iran.

"We stopped their program and we eliminated the 20 percent [uranium enrichment] and rolled back their breakout time, enlarged it, while we move toward the final negotiations," Kerry said.

"Now, the final negotiation is going to be in conjunction with all of our partners, and whatever we do it has got to make Israel safer, it has got to make the world safer, it can't threaten the [United Arab] Emirates, it can't threaten Saudi Arabia, it can't threaten the region."

[Xinhua] [RFE/RL]