‘Iran must be part of solution in Syria’

Britain's opposition Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said on Sunday that Iran needs to be part of a solution to the conflict in Syria and the wider Middle East.

"There has to be a political solution that's got to involve Iran and all the neighbouring countries...Iran can be part of the political solution in the whole region," said Corbyn in an interview with with the BBC.

He further emphasized that the world needs to take a collective action to cut off the financial resources on the ISIL as the best way to undermine the terrorism group.

The Labour leader has also emphasized that Russia and other nations could get sucked into a proxy war in Syria if there was no political solution to the crisis.

"The danger is we end up with a proxy war between Russia and others in Syria on top of an incredibly unpleasant, nasty civil war within Syria," he said on the opening day of the main opposition Labour Party's annual conference in the seaside resort of Brighton.

Corbyn added that the Labour would set out its stance to this effect on Monday.

Meanwhile, Nigel Flanagan, a British author and political commentator, has told Press TV that Corbyn’s call to engage Iran in talks over Syria is “common sense” and “needs to be welcomed”.

Flanagan said Iran is already sharing intelligence with Russia, Syria and Iraq in relation to ISIL terrorists, what he says is a positive sign that a new coalition is trying to help resolve the Syrian crisis.

“All the nations now understand that Iran is a stable country with an aggressive role to play in relations to peace in the Middle East,” he told Press TV’s UK Desk. 

On a related front, officials in London say Prime Minister David Cameron is to tell the United Nations General Assembly that peace in Syria is impossible while President Bashar al-Assad remains in power. 

Cameron, who will fly to New York on Sunday to address the UN, is expected to use a series of one-to-one meetings with other leaders, including US President Barack Obama, to press the case that a peaceful solution would ultimately require different leadership in Syria around which the majority can unite.

However, Britain has stressed that Assad would not necessarily have to go immediately as part of any peace deal, officials say.

"There has always been the idea that there will be a political transition and there are differing views between members of the international community... what the steps are in the process," a senior British official has told AFP.

"That is where there is more discussion ongoing."

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