Iran says it will attend international talks over Syria’s future in Vienna this week.
A spokeswoman said the foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, would attend the meeting, adding that he had discussed the Syrian crisis with his Russian counterpart this week.
It will be the first time Tehran, the main regional ally of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, has attended an international summit on the conflict. About a dozen participants are expected, including from Russia and Saudi Arabia, which back Assad and his opponents.
The talks are an expansion of discussions held last week in Vienna between the US, Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia that did not reach any substantive conclusion.
The core talks are to take place in Vienna on Friday, but diplomats expect preparatory or bilateral meetings in the Austrian capital from late on Thursday.
Tehran’s invitation came after the US declared it was ready to engage Iran if it might help halt Syria’s four-year civil war.
Nearly two years ago, a similar offer for Iran to attend an earlier round of talks in Geneva was hastily rescinded by the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, after fierce opposition from the US, Britain and Syrian opposition groups.
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