By Thomas McKInless and Aisha Chowdhry

State Department Spokesman John Kirby confirmed on Tuesday that the U.S. “anticipates” Iran to take part in the multilateral talks on Syria scheduled for the end of this week in Vienna, but would not comment on if the U.S. officially invited Iran. It is not known if Iran has agreed to participate in dialogue with the U.S. on this matter since the U.S. has repeatedly said that the only solution to Syria is a political transition. Secretary of State John Kerry was on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning to discuss Syria with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.