U.S. unwilling to include Europe in Syria talks

PanARMENIAN.Net - Nine nations or five? In speeches at this year's UN gathering of world leaders, major powers are increasing calls for multilateral negotiations to end the war in Syria. But Europe and the United States are split on who should be at the table, the Associated Press reports.

The Europeans invoke the success of the Iran nuclear talks in arguing for a similar format — with key additions.

There, Iran negotiated with the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany to reach their July 14 agreement. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Wednesday, September 30, called for a similar arrangement "enlarged with regional partners."

But the Americans want any negotiations restricted to themselves, the Russians, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Washington accepted being one of six nations at the nuclear negotiations because they came late. After initially refusing to sit at the same table with Tehran the United States joined in 2006, three years after Britain France and Germany reached out to the Islamic Republic.

A U.S. official familiar with the issue said that in the case of Syria, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry preferred to keep the focus on countries that are directly involved.

Russia, in turn, appears to favor others being kept in the loop, even if they aren't sitting at the negotiating table.