US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Tuesday United Nations-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan to discuss the details of the contact group meeting on Syria next Saturday in Geneva.

State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters that Clinton spoke with Annan on the phone "to continue to work on what this conference might look like and how, if we go forward with it, if it is at the end of the week or sometime thereafter, we can ensure that it truly makes progress in supporting the Annan plan, and specifically in supporting a peaceful democratic transition in Syria".

"We are getting closer but we do not have any decisions yet. I think the aspiration of the joint special envoy is still to have it on the 30th, we want to make sure it is well prepared, so before we come to a final conclusion on that, we have a little bit more work to do", she added.

Nuland reaffirmed that the US view on Iran's participation "has not changed. Given its support for the regime and its continued behavior vis-a-vis Syria, we just do not see it as able to make a helpful contribution right now".

"We are continuing to work through all of the issues to ensure that if we go forward with this, that it can be successful and that we can have an outcome that actually brings more support and more progress for the Syrian people. And one of the issues we have been talking about from the beginning is the appropriate participation", she added.

During her stop in Saint Petersburg next Friday, Clinton is also expected to meet with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss the Annan plan, the situation in Syria and the Geneva meeting.

"We think one of the underdeveloped aspects of the Annan plan is how you get to the post-Assad political transition. We think the international community can help the Syrians by laying out some principles, some parameters that can give people a vision of how they can get from the horrible, violent, somewhat hopeless situation they are in now to a new political reality", said Nuland.

"We are looking to set forth a framework for a political transition that includes the cease-fire, includes the pullback of heavy weaponry, that gives a path forward for the Syrian people so that they can see that they are going to have a political transition, they are going to have the right to choose their own government, and that the rights of all Syrians -- whether they are majority, minority, men, women -- are going to be protected by the process", she concluded.