Success at multilateral talks on Syria, which bring regional rivals Iran and Saudia Arabia face-to-face, might be measured by just keeping participants at the conference table, diplomats said on Thursday, playing down expectations of any breakthrough.
More than a dozen powers were heading to Vienna for a fresh effort on Thursday and Friday to end Syria's four-year civil war in which the United States and its Western and Gulf allies are at odds with Russia and its regional supporters, including Iran.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was due to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, attending high-level talks on Syria for the first time, later on Thursday, U.S. officials said.
The talks in Vienna will be the first time Iran and Saudia Arabia, regional arch rivals who have been deeply critical of each other's role in the crisis, have met across the table since the conflict erupted in Syria in March 2011.
