United Nations to hold emergency session on Syria: Hillary Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister to Attend
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and her Russian counterpart agreed Wednesday to attend an emergency meeting on Syria this weekend following personal appeals by U.N. envoy Kofi Annan to consider new proposals for a Syrian political transition.
Final agreement by Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov came after Russia dropped its insistence that Iran be invited to the Annan-convened gathering of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, along with Turkey and Arab League officials, according to a senior Obama administration official.
Iran’s U.N. ambassador, Mohammad Khazaee, told reporters, “If some powers that be do not want to benefit from [Iran’s] influence and constructive role, that’s their problem.”
Clinton had expressed doubts about the prospect of convening what Annan christened an “action group” and said she would not attend if Iran was there. After Iran was excluded, she said she was hopeful the meeting would mark a “turning point” in the international effort to resolve the escalating Syrian crisis.