DHAKA: Syrian peace talks could collapse before they even start, with the main opposition coalition bloc issuing a deadline for the withdrawal of Iran’s invitation to the talks.

The Syrian National Coalition, a key player in the so-called Geneva II meeting, set to start on Wednesday, has given a deadline of Monday night for Tehran’s invitation to be rescinded.

It is furious about the United Nations’ overtures to Iran, which is an ally of president Bashar al-Assad.

Anas Abdah, a member of the Coalition’s political committee, told media, ‘We are giving a deadline of 19:00 GMT for the invitation to be withdrawn’, reports Al Jazeera.

Earlier on Monday, Abdah told Al Jazeera by phone that the bloc was ‘surprised’ by UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon’s invitation, saying, ‘It is illogical and we cannot in any way accept it’.

‘The Syrian Coalition announces that they will withdraw their attendance in Geneva II unless Ban Ki-moon retracts Iran’s invitation,’ it said in a Twitter post quoting Louay Safi, the Coalition’s spokesman.

Ban said Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had promised his country would play a ‘positive and constructive role’ if it were asked to participate.

‘He has assured me that, like all the other countries invited to the opening-day discussions in Montreux, Iran understands that the basis of the talks is the full implementation of the 30 June, 2012, Geneva communique,’ he said.

BDST: 2106 HRS, JAN 20, 2014