TEHRAN - Assistant to Iranian Foreign Minister and Director General of West Asia at Iran's ministry of foreign affairs Seyed Rasoul Mousavi underscored that his country's participation in any talks on Afghanistan depends on the partnership of the Kabul central government.
"The Islamic Republic has clearly declared that it will not participate in any negotiations in which the Afghan government does not participate," Mousavi said on Monday.
He stressed that peace in Afghanistan should be established inside the Afghan state, and said, "If the foreign states are after imposing peace, it is doomed to failure and Iran will never partner in such a plan."
Elsewhere, Mousavi said given the fact that the content of the Afghanistan peace negotiations have changed, Iran may participate in the next meeting of China, the US, Russia and Pakistan on Afghanistan in Moscow.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that his country had an interest in Iran joining the Russia-China-US format for Afghanistan talks.
"We have a dialogue with them (the United States) on Afghanistan. There is a Russia-China-US format that Pakistan has joined. There is interest in connecting Iran to this format. It can be promising," Lavrov said.
A confrontation between Afghan government forces and the militants of the radical Taliban movement, which had previously captured significant territory in rural areas of the country and launched an attack on large cities, continues. The ISIL has also increased its influence in Afghanistan. Afghan national defense and security forces are conducting joint counter-terrorism operations across the country. (FNA)