14 January 2016•Update: 17 January 2016
LONDON
Saudi Arabia remains committed to a solution in Syria despite its own tensions with Iran, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said in London on Thursday.
Addressing a joint press briefing with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Al-Jubeir said that his country continued to support the Syria support group, the multinational peace process, which started in Vienna last October.
There has been concern that Saudi Arabia’s decision to cut diplomatic ties with Iran could cause a breakdown in the peace talks.
But Al-Jubeir said: "We never left the Syria support group meeting. Our relationship with Iran is separate from the relationship with everybody else in terms of the Syria cooperation group.
"Our objective is to work through the process that was started in Vienna in order to arrive at a peaceful settlement based on Geneva and the outcomes of the Vienna talks and the most recent United Nations Security Council resolution."
Kerry said at the same briefing that the United States and Saudi Arabia were "in complete agreement about the need to try to resolve the crisis in Syria".
He added: "The last thing the region needs is more conflict, and I know the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia agrees with that. But there are simple things they would like to see done that help to prevent that. And our job is to work together in order to try to get there."
Asked if he had relayed the same message to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Kerry replied: "Of course. We always talk about non-interference, and we talk about peace and stability. And the key is to create the framework within which we're able to work towards that."
Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran earlier this month after protesters torched two of its diplomatic buildings in Tehran and Mashhad. The move came after Saudi authorities executed 47 prisoners on Jan. 2, including the prominent Shia Muslim cleric Nimr Baqir al-Nimr.
