Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and three of his deputies will attend international talks over Syria’s future in Vienna later this week.
It will be the first time that Tehran, the main regional backer of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, has attended an international summit on the four-year-long war. Tehran admits that its Revolutionary Guard officers are on the ground in Syria in an advisory role, but denies the presence of any combat troops in the country.
About a dozen participants are expected in total. It was not clear if any invitations had been issued to either the Syrian government or the opposition, though neither side was present at the last talks in Vienna. Details