Iran threatens to abandon Syria talks

Iran on Monday threatened to pull out of talks aimed at ending the bloody civil war in Syria amid an deepening divide with Saudi Arabia.

The rift threatens to upset the already precarious negotiations and highlights the competing points of tension as global diplomats seek to find a path to peace for Syria.

{mosads}”In the first round of talks, some countries, especially Saudi Arabia, played a negative and unconstructive role,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said, according to Reuters, which cited Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency.

“Iran will not participate if the talks are not fruitful.”

The comments follow a meeting late last week where Iran for the first time in years sat down with a group of nations including the U.S. to try to hammer out a solution to years of violence in Syria. The civil war has left more than 250,000 people dead and forced millions more to flee their homes in search of safety.

The meeting signaled a change of tone from the Obama administration, which had previously denied giving Iran a seat at the table, and was interpreted by some as an attempt to build off of the successful nuclear talks with the nation earlier in the year. In the wake of the nuclear agreement, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had banned any further negotiations with the U.S.

The move stoked outrage from American critics of the nuclear deal, who accused the Obama administration of relenting to Iran. Like Russia, Iran is an ally of embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad.

It also invited a backlash from Gulf Arab countries, such as Saudi Arabia, which have been regional rivals with Iran. Like the U.S., Saudi Arabia has supported efforts to push Assad from power.