Iran said on Monday it would pull out of Syria peace talks if it found them unconstructive, citing the "negative role" of its main regional adversary Saudi Arabia, according to state Iranian media.
World and regional powers including Iran and Saudi Arabia met in Vienna on Friday to discuss a political solution to Syria's civil war but failed, as expected, to reach a consensus on the future of President Bashar al-Assad. Iran backs Assad in the war while Saudi Arabia supports rebels seeking to oust him.
It was the first time Tehran and Riyadh were at the same table to tackle a war that has evolved into a wider proxy struggle for regional dominance between Russia and Iran on Assad's side and Turkey, US-allied Gulf Arab states and Western powers who support rebels to various degrees.
"In the first round of talks, some countries, especially Saudi Arabia, played a negative and unconstructive role Iran will not participate if the talks are not fruitful," ISNA cited deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian as saying.
At a regional security conference in Bahrain on Saturday, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said a major stumbling block to agreement at the Vienna talks had to do with the timing of the departure of Assad.
"The second has to do with the timing and the means of the withdrawal of foreign forces from Syria - in particular, Iranian forces, which, incidentally, we view as an occupying force," Jubeir added.