Iranian President Hassan Rowhani is offering to “help facilitate dialogue” between the Syrian government and the opposition, as Syria’s Assad regime admits the civil war has reached a stalemate.

Rowhani has already asked to meet with French President Francois Hollande on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly new week.  Hollande has been a hawk on the Syria situation, advocating for missile attacks with the US.  But the Iranian leader, decidedly more moderate than his bellicose predecessor, says his western counterparts should “seize the opportunity presented” by his election.

“I urge them to make the most of the mandate for prudent engagement that my people have given me and to respond genuinely to my government's efforts to engage in constructive dialogue,” wrote in a column in the Washington Post.

Sidetrip:  He’s not the first hostile leader to use America’s Freedom of the Press to get his point out there in recent days.  Russian President-for-as-long-as-he-wants-the-job Vladimir Putin wrote his second op-ed for the New York Times last week, criticizing the drive to punish Syria for the 21 August chemical weapon attack on civilians.  In his case, it may not have worked as intended:  A new poll says Americans increasingly view Russia as more enemy than ally, and are growing weary of the shirtless wonder.

Okay, back to Syria:

Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil says neither the regime of Bashar al-Assad or the patchwork of rebel groups is strong enough to win the conflict, which has killed more than 100,000 people in more than two years.  But the leaders of Syria’s armed opposition refuse to go to peace talks sponsored by the US and Russia, unless Assad resigns first.  Jamil, who maintains Syria’s checkbook says the conflict has cost his economy more than A$100 Billion.

And on the battlefield, al Qaeda militants took over a town in the north near the Turkish border, which is probably causing heartburn in Ankarra.  The Islamist fighters didn’t take the town from the government; they took it after heavy fighting with western-backed rebels, their supposed allies in this conflict.