„People who are accusing the government of Syria, and who are saying the government of Syria has the blood of so many people on its hands should go back and do a bit of soul-searching and tell themselves what prevented a ceasefire in Syria a few years ago,“ said Zarif, who is in New York for a U.N. meeting on the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

„The only thing that prevented a ceasefire … was a precondition“ that Assad not be part of any transitional government in Syria, Zarif said at New York University.