Iran's Zarif heads to Turkey for peace talks on Syria

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif headed to Turkey for peace talks on Syria, Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday.

Zarif left the capital Tehran for the Turkish Antalya city as the head of a political delegation to take part in a trilateral meeting of Iran, Russia and Turkey, Xinhua news agency reported.

The foreign ministers of the three countries will convene on Sunday to discuss the results of experts-level talks on the settlement of the Syrian crisis and prepare the ground for an upcoming summit of presidents in the Russian city of Sochi.

The three ministers would discuss the latest developments in Syria and the outcome of several rounds of expert-level sessions, and finalize the agenda of a presidential meeting in Sochi.

In the summit, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Russia's President Vladimir Putin and President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan will review peace efforts in Syria, which has been in a state of war since March 2011.

Iran, Russia and Turkey have so far held seven rounds of peace talks in Kazakhstan to help end the conflict in Syria.

The fourth round of those talks in May produced a memorandum of understanding on de-escalation zones in Syria, reducing armed conflict in the country.

--IANS

ah/bg