Syria’s opposition says it will withdraw from this week’s peace talks in Switzerland unless an invitation to Iran is retracted. <br /><br />The announcement follows UN Chief Ban Ki-moon’s offer to Tehran to attend the first day of the talks.<br /><br />The preliminary talks will open in Montreux on Wednesday and then continue in Geneva two days later. <br /><br />“Foreign Minister Zarif and I agreed that the goal of the negotiations is to establish by mutual consent a transitional governing body with a full executive powers,” Ban said, adding: “it was on that basis that Foreign Minister Zarif pledged that Iran would play a positive and constructive role in Montreux.” <br /><br />The decision by the Syrian National Coalition which on Saturday finally agreed to take part has thrown uncertainty around the talks.<br /><br />The US has also stipulated Iran must endorse the 2012 Geneva communique detailing Syria’s political transition process if it is to attend.<br /><br />Syrian opposition figures had earlier expressed reluctance to go to Switzerland unless President Bashar al-Assad was excluded from any future transitional government.<br /><br />Assad has recently been quoted as saying he has no intention of quitting.
