United Nations envoy Kofi Annan has traveled to Iran as he tries to rescue his peace plan for Syria.

He arrived in Tehran late Monday, and was due to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi and top security official Saeed Jalili. Iran is Syria's top ally in the region.

Mr. Annan held talks earlier Monday with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and said the two men agreed on a new approach to ending the violence.

Meanwhile, Syrian opposition leaders are urging Russia – another close ally of Mr. Assad – to stop standing in the way of efforts to oust the president. Russia has long promoted allowing the Syrian people to decide their own fate.