New Syrian foreign minister due in Iran
Syria's newly-appointed Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mekdad will make his first foreign visit to Tehran to hold talks with senior Iranian officials.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Sunday that Mekdad plans to meet with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, on Monday.
He added that the top Syrian diplomat will also hold separate meetings with a number of other high-ranking Iranian authorities.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appointed Mekdad as the new foreign minister on November 22 to replace his predecessor Walid al-Muallem, who recently passed away.
Mekdad, 66, started a career at the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates in 1994, and has been deputy foreign minister since 2006.