Iran's Vice President speaks to ITV News on the country's invitation to attend Syria talks

It may be a case of “I told you so,” but Iranian officials are far too diplomatic and instinctively cautious to make such a sentiment plain to their Western counterparts.

The decision by the US and her allies to invite Iranian diplomats to talks over the vexed future of Syria is not simply a dramatic change of policy direction, it’s a confirmation of just how profoundly and quickly Iran and the West’s strategic dialogue and engagement is changing.

This was the main subject of an interview I did with Iran’s Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar.

Watch ITV News International Affairs Editor Rageh Omaar's report:

When I spoke to Britain’s new Charge D’Affaires in Tehran, Ben Fender, at the weekend, I asked him whether Iran and the UK were co-operating on what he himself described as their shared concern over so-called Islamic State militants.

He said that despite their shared opposition to the extremist group, the UK and Iran differed on the remedy to IS in Syria and so he wouldn’t use the word “co-operate”.

But with this decision over inviting Iran to the newest round of Syria talks, it seems that Iran and the West are inching slowly but surely towards something that may come to look like co-operation.

Bear in mind that this new engagement on Syria comes after the landmark nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers.

The nuclear deal is a self-contained agreement and very specifically within the boundaries of nuclear negotiations, but it’s hardly surprising that former enemies who can find common ground on such a critical issue, can also believe they can reach workable compromises on a complex crisis like Syria.

The elephant in the room in all this, is of course Saudi Arabia; Iran’s main regional rival and ideological opponent. The two countries have been fighting titanic proxy wars; in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and beyond.

Saudi Arabia has of course been a staunch and long standing ally of the West and they’ve been opposed to involving Iran formally in any international talks on Syria. This will be a blow to them, and a worrying trend in the long run. Iran has what it calls military advisers in Syria and has a huge amount of leverage in Syria.

Damascus sees Tehran as its closest ally. It therefore makes sense to reach out to them.

Watch ITV News International Affairs Editor Rageh Omaar's full interview with Iran’s Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar:

Read more from ITV News International Affairs Editor Rageh Omaar's trip to Iran.