High-level officials, ministers and top military brass gathered at the Munich Security Conference Friday with Syria in the spotlight and amid a US warning to Iran over stalled nuclear talks.
US Vice-President Joe Biden, who is due to attend the Munich talks on Saturday, began a three-nation European tour cautioning Iran that the opportunity for talks with the West over Tehran’s contested nuclear programme was not open-ended.
Freshly re-inaugurated Biden, who earlier on Friday met Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, will in Munich turn his attentions to Syria amid fears the conflict may spill over the country’s borders.
He is scheduled to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Syrian opposition chief Moaz al-Khatib, and also see UN-Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi in the southern German city, the White House said.
Outgoing US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Iran is stepping up its support for the Syrian regime and that Russia is still arming it, heightening concerns after Damascus threatened to retaliate over a reported Israeli air raid.
“What we would like to see from other countries, including Russia, is an acknowledgement that [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad must go and that there needs to be a transition within Syria to a new government,” said Ben Rhodes, a White House national security adviser.