Salehi said Syrian National Coalition leader Moaz Alkhatib's comments to him, in their talks late on Saturday, that he would be willing to talk with representatives of the Syrian government if prisoners were released represented "a good step forward".

"If we want to stop the bloodshed we cannot continue putting the blame one side on the other," Salehi told the Munich Security Conference, adding that he was ready to talk again to the opposition and wanted to be "part of the solution".