The planned peace conference in Geneva to end the conflict in Syria should not imply any capitulation on the part of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying Tuesday. "We are categorically against... assertions that the conference should be some kind of public act of capitulation by the government delegation followed by a handing over of power to the opposition," Lavrov told Kuwaiti news agency KUNA in an interview whose text was published by the Russian foreign ministry. sjw/ma/fb

Iran's newly-elected president Hassan Rowhani declared on Monday that his incoming government will seek to improve ties with regional rival Saudi Arabia, tarnished over differences about Syria's civil war. "The priority of my government is to strengthen relations with neighbours... the countries of the Persian Gulf and Arab ones that are of strategic importance and our brothers," said Rowhani.

The key opposition Syrian National Coalition umbrella grouping on Saturday urged newly elected Iranian President Hassan Rowhani to review his country's support for the Syrian regime. "The Syrian National Coalition believes that it is its duty to call on the new president of Iran to rectify the mistakes made by the Iranian leadership," the group said, in reference to Tehran's staunch backing of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. sbh-sah/tl

The European Union on Friday said US allegations about the use of chemical weapons reinforced the need for UN inspectors to be deployed to Syria, and for increased efforts to find a political solution to the conflict. A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the bloc had seen with "great concern the conclusions of the statement" by the White House on Thursday about alleged nerve gas use by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.