Iran Invited to Join U.S., Russia in Syria Negotiations

The United States announced this week that Iran would be invited to the negotiation table for talks regarding the future of Syria. This marks the first time Iran has been invited to participate in the talks.

U.S. officials announced this week that Iran has been invited to join the talks slated to start later this week in Vienna, Austria with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other European leaders in attendance.

While Russia extended the invitation for Iran to join the talks, the Middle Eastern country has yet to respond to the invite.

The United States has continued to stress that the goal of the peace talks is to figure out a strategy for removing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power, as U.S. President Barack Obama has described Assad as a "tyrant" unwilling to end the ongoing Syrian civil war.

"The ultimate goal that everyone wants to get to … is to come up with a framework for a successful political transition in Syria which leads to a government not led by Bashar al-Assad and that is representative of and responsive to the Syrian people," State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters this week, as reported by The Guardian.

As Russia invites Iran to the negotiation table, Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami, deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, recently told CNN that Iran has stepped up its military presence in Syria in an attempt to continue aiding ally Bashar al-Assad.

Salami added in the interview with CNN that Iran is stepping up its military presence in Syria because the number of Iranian casualties in the Middle Eastern country has reportedly increased.