Iran to attend intl talks on Syria: spokeswoman

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif gestures as he attends a joint news conference with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier (not seen) in Tehran October 17, 2015.[Photo/Agencies]

TEHRAN -- Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif will attend the international talks on the future of Syria to be held in Vienna on Friday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said here on Wednesday.

Three deputy ministers from Iran's foreign ministry will accompany Zarif in Friday's meeting, Afkham was quoted as saying by Iranian Students' News Agency.

In the telephone conversation on Tuesday and Wednesday, Iranian and Russian foreign ministers conferred over Syrian crisis and the upcoming Vienna meeting on the country, she said.

Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, the European Union and France also said they would attend Friday's talks, which come a week after a smaller round of negotiations between the United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

On Tuesday, Iran was invited to the Syria talks for the first time since the outbreak of civil war in the country.

US State Department spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday that "We have to have a conversation and a dialogue with Iran" over Syria and "It's up to Iran to decide whether they're going to or not."

Iran has emerged as a staunch regional ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government in the country's long-lasting conflict.

Washington has been against including Tehran in the political talks on Syria over the past years, seeing Tehran as "part of problem" in the crisis. Iran rejected the US claims, accusing the latter of supporting terrorist groups in the Arab state.

On Tuesday, Afkham said that the United States "should stop its policy of supporting and nurturing of terrorists in Syria," according to Iran's Foreign Ministry website.

The four-and-half-year conflict in Syria has killed more than 250,000 people and displayed 11 million.