DAVOS, Switzerland — Iranian President Hassan Rohani said Thursday that fair elections would be the best way of ending Syria’s civil war.

“The best solution is to organize free and fair elections inside Syria,” Rohani told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “No outside party or power should decide for the Syrian people and Syria as a country.

“No outside party or power should decide for the Syrian people and Syria as a country.”

Describing a conflict that has been raging for nearly three years as a “major catastrophe”, Rohani said Iran was deeply concerned by the influx of foreign fighters he described as “terrorists” into Syria.

“Millions of innocent people have been killed, maimed or made homeless – it is a miserable situation and very sad,” Rouhani said.

“All of us should work together to push terrorists out of Syria and advise the countries who support them that this is not their own best interests – their next stop will be their own countries.”

The World Economic Forum is taking place only several kilometers away from the “Geneva II” peace talks in Montreux, in which Syrian government and opposition figures meet for the first time since the beginning of the almost three-year old civil war.

The UN withdrew Iran’s invitation to the Geneva peace talks after the Syrian opposition threatened to boycott the conference if Iran, a staunch supporter Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, attends it.

The Geneva II peace conference opened on Wednesday, with delegations on either side of the conflict exchanging accusations of terrorism and torture.

Expectations are very low for a breakthrough at the conference, but diplomats believe that simply bringing the two sides together for the first time is a mark of some progress and could be an important first step.