Iran willing to attend Syria conference

BERLIN (AP) — Iran’s foreign minister says his country would be prepared to attend a planned international conference on Syria, and is suggesting Tehran could play a part in helping broker peace.

The US and Russia have agreed to try to convene a conference to seek a political solution to the two-year Syrian civil war, but no date has been set. Iran is one of President Bashar Assad’s closest allies.

Its foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, told German weekly Der Spiegel in an interview published Sunday that Iran hasn’t yet received an invitation — “but, of course, we would come.”

Salehi was quoted as saying: “We could initiate negotiations between the opposition and government in Syria.” But he said Assad’s departure couldn’t be a precondition for talks.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.