The United States expects Iran to be invited to join multi-lateral talks on Syria to be held in Vienna this week, the State Department said today.
Secretary of State John Kerry is to leave Washington tomorrow for Vienna for talks with "around a dozen countries" on the crisis in Syria.
The talks are an expanded continuation of discussions held last week in Vienna between the United States, Russia, Turkey and Syria with an expanded guest list.
State Department spokesman John Kirby said he did not know which of the powers would extend an invitation to Tehran, a key ally of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
And he said he did not know whether Tehran would accept.
"An invitation to Iran to participate, I think Iranian leaders can take to mean that it's a genuine multilateral invitation," he told reporters.
The core talks are to take place in Vienna on Friday, but diplomats expect some preparatory or bilateral meetings in the Austrian capital from late Thursday.
Iran is believed to have spent billions of dollars over the past four years to prop up the Syrian government, providing military advisers and subsidised weapons, as well as lines of credit and oil.
