UK Says Iran Must Embrace Syria Transition to Attend Talks

Iran could attend peace talks on Syria next week if it gives a "strong signal" that it will embrace a political transition to replace the current regime, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Monday.

Hague said Iran was still providing support to Syrian President Bashar Assad's government, and that if it wanted to attend the talks in Switzerland it should instead agree to the principles set out at a first set of talks in Geneva in 2012, including a transitional government in Syria.

Iran has not been officially invited to the talks by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

"If you want to come, show very clearly that you're going to engage on the same basis as the rest of us," Hague said.

He added that a "signal of support" for a transitional government would be "a very helpful signal to Iran in getting them to Geneva II."

Addressing Britain's parliament, Hague said there was "no objection in principle to Iran in any quarter, certainly in Western nations, coming."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi both said earlier Monday that Tehran should be at the so-called Geneva II talks, but U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Iran must first sign up to the Geneva I principles.

The talks are due to start on January 22 in Montreux, Switzerland.

Britain has in recent months resurrected its diplomatic ties with Iran, which were severed after protesters ransacked the British embassy in 2011.

On Syria, Hague said Britain would make a "major further donation" to a U.N. Syrian aid appeal at a pledging conference in Kuwait on Wednesday.

Hague confirmed that a British warship, HMS Montrose, would also help escort Danish and Norwegian vessels transporting Syrian chemical weapons away for destruction.

He also said Britain would supply specialist equipment for use on a U.S. vessel on which Syrian chemical stocks are being neutralized.