UN invites Iran to Syria peace talks

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has invited Iran to take part in preliminary Syrian peace talks this week in Switzerland, an offer Tehran has accepted. Ban said he had received assurances that Iran would play a positive role in securing a transitional government. But Syria's main opposition group said it would withdraw from the talks unless Ban retracted the offer to Iran. The US said the offer must be conditioned on Iran's support for the 2012 deal on Syria's transition.