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Syrian opposition coalition urges UN to cancel Geneva II invitation to Iran

Previously the Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Marzieh Afkham said that Iran would attend the conference without preconditions

KUWAIT CITY, January 20. /ITAR-TASS/. The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces urged the United Nations to cancel its invitation to Iran to attend the Geneva II international conference scheduled to start this week.

The Coalition said it might refuse to attend the conference if the U.N. did not revoke the invitation.

“The invitation must be cancelled by 19:00 GMT,” Anas al-Abda, a member of the Political Committee of the Syrian National Coalition, said on Monday, January 20.

In an interview with Al Jazeera television, he stressed the need for Iran to recognise the results of Geneva II and withdraw its troops from Syria before accepting the invitation (to the second conference).

Earlier in the day, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian confirmed he had received an invitation from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to attend Geneva II to begin in Montreux, Switzerland, on January 22.

“Iran will attend the conference without preconditions,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Marzieh Afkham said.