Al-Jubeir: We work with our American friends to remove Bashar al-Assad from Syria

RIYADH, Jan 23, 2016 – According to the Reuters, Saudi Foreign Minister  Adel al-Jubeir said his country was working with the U.S. to find ways to remove Assad from power. He downplayed any change in U.S.- Iran relations after an agreement with world powers on Iran’s nuclear programmed led them to lift sanctions on Iran.
“We work with our American friends on ways to remove Bashar al-Assad from Syria and move the country towards a better future,” he said.
“I don’t see a coming together of the United States and Iran, as some of the pundits have described it. Iran remains the world’s chief sponsor of terrorism.”
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday he was confident Syria peace talks would proceed, after he held talks with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states in Saudi Arabia.
“We are confident that with good initiative in the next day or so those talks can get going…” he told reporters in Riyadh.
Kerry met earlier in Riyadh with representatives of the six nations of the GCC, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. He is due to hold talks with Riad Hijab, chair of the Syrian opposition’s High Negotiations Committee, which was formed in Riyadh last month.
The Syria peace talks are planned to begin on Jan. 25 in Geneva, but there is uncertainty around the date, partly because of a dispute over who will be part of the opposition delegation.
Peace efforts face huge underlying challenges, among them disagreements over Bashar al-Assad’s future and worsening relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Tensions between the two regional rivals escalated this month after an attack by Iranian protesters on the Saudi embassy in Tehran embassy, leading the kingdom to cut diplomatic ties.
“None of us are under any illusions that obstacles don’t still exist to trying to seek a political settlement in Syria,” Kerry said. “We know its tough. If it were easy, it would have happened a long time ago.”