The Iranian President Sheikh Hassan Rouhani stressed that Iran is willing to sit down with its rivals to discuss the crisis in Syria, noting that Tehran would not debate the future of President Assad until peace is achieved.

The Iranian President Sheikh Hassan Rouhani stressed that Iran is willing to sit down with its rivals to discuss the crisis in Syria, noting that Tehran would not debate the future of President Assad until peace is achieved.

Speaking at a joint news conference in Tehran with Austria's President Heinz Fischer, the first European Union leader to visit Iran in more than a decade, Rouhani called on the EU and Middle Eastern powers to find a solution to the Syria crisis.

"We will sit down at any table with countries inside and outside the region," Rouhani said when asked if Iran would discuss Syria with adversaries Saudi Arabia and the United States.

"The Syrian people are being killed and losing their homes ... our first priority is to stop the bloodshed, bring security and let people return to their homes, then we can talk about the future," he said.

"If one day Syria is more secure, that will be in the interest of the whole region and the world," he highlighted.