A year ago, the US, the UK, and France appeared to side with Saudi Arabia when they rejected former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s request that Iran be invited to the first attempt in Geneva to negotiate a settlement of Syria’s civil war. They probably feared that Iran’s participation in the talks would enable Iranian leaders to link efforts to end the Syrian crisis to negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, enhancing their ability to resist international demands that the program be terminated.
一年前，美、英、法似乎支持沙特的立场，拒绝了前联合国秘书长科菲·安南邀请伊朗参加日内瓦首次结束叙利亚内战谈判的要求。他们似乎担心伊朗领导人会把结束叙利亚危机和伊朗核计划谈判扯在一起，并因此增强伊朗拒不执行中止核计划的国际要求的能力。