An international peace conference will take place between Syria and world powers on Jan. 22 in hopes of ending the civil war after three years, Reuters reported.
The conference will be the first between President Bashar al-Assad and opposing forces who seek to overthrow him, but the United Nations hopes for a peaceful solution that can end a war which has taken the lives of 100,000 people, according to Reuters.
The United Nations announced the conference on Monday after Syria mediator Lakhdar Brahimi met with U.S. and Russian world powers in Geneva to settle on a plan to end the war, according to Reuters. World powers hope the conference will allow Syria to build on an agreement reached by world powers in June of 2012 for a transitional governing body, Reuters reported.
"We will go to Geneva with a mission of hope," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, according to Reuters. It's not clear from Ban's statement whether Iran's attendance is confirmed, but Ban did state that "all regional and international partners to demonstrate their meaningful support for constructive negotiations".
Brahimi, who has called for Iran's participation in the Geneva 2 talks, has tried to schedule a peace conference since May in hopes it could take place in December, but the participation of Iran has been a major hurdle, Reuters reported.
Russia also calls on Tehran's presence at the conference, and though the U.S. has previously opposed Iran's participation, a new deal limiting Iran's nuclear programs closed this past weekend may ease past tensions, according to Reuters.
Before the conference can take place, the United States and its allies have said Iran must accept the agreement of June 2012 before January's "Geneva 2" talks, Reuters reported.
