The quadrilateral talks between the deputy foreign ministers of Türkiye, Russia, Iran and Syria may take place in Moscow in early April, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov was quoted as saying on Monday by Russia’s state-owned news agency RIA.

The situation in Syria and the normalization of ties between Ankara and Damascus are to be the key focus of the consultations, which were previously scheduled for mid-March as a buildup to a higher-level meeting between Turkish, Russian, Iranian and Syrian foreign ministers later.

The talks, originally proposed by Moscow and later postponed due to "technical reasons," would eventually pave the way for the leaders of the four countries to meet.

While the date is yet to be confirmed by the other three sides, the foreign ministers’ meeting would mark another high-level talk since the Syrian war began in 2011.

Tehran expressed willingness to participate in the meeting during its top diplomat Hossein Amirabdollahian’s visit to Ankara early in March.

"Iran supports a thaw in relations between Türkiye and Syria, two important nations in Western Asia," Amirabdollahian told reporters alongside his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who also assured, "Iran is prepared to do its part to smooth out differences of opinions between Damascus and Ankara."

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has also recently indicated he could meet with Assad to discuss a revival of ties and their defense ministers held a landmark meeting in Moscow in December to talk over counterterrorism efforts in Syria and agreed to continue the tripartite meetings to ensure stability in the war-torn country and the wider region.

Analysts have said Moscow wants to bridge the divide between the two countries that see a common "enemy" in terrorist groups like the PKK and its Syrian branch YPG, which, backed by Washington, poses a threat to both Türkiye and Syria’s territorial integrity.

In a rare visit abroad, Assad met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on March 15 to discuss Ankara-Damascus ties where he emphasized that Syria supports dialogue "if it leads to achieving the interests of the Syrian people and the unity and integrity of the Syrian territory and leads to clear results."

The Assad regime has been politically isolated since the start of the war but he has been receiving calls and aid from Arab leaders after the Feb. 6 earthquakes that left more than 56,000 people dead in southeastern Türkiye and northwestern Syria combined.

Türkiye too has been vocal about preserving Syria’s territorial integrity; officials have long reiterated respect for the country’s sovereign rights, saying Ankara’s sole aim is to fight terrorists in the region and calling for a political solution to the ongoing war. They also indicated that Türkiye and Syria could work on counterterrorism efforts against the YPG.

The conflict in Syria, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people, displaced millions and drawn in regional and world powers, has rolled into its 12th year, although fighting has subsided.

With backing from Russia and Iran, Assad's regime has recovered most of the Syrian territory. Turkish-backed opposition fighters still control a pocket in the northwest, and YPG terrorists also control territory near the Turkish border.

Washington, however, is not in favor of countries re-establishing ties with Assad. "We do not support countries upgrading their relations or expressing support to rehabilitate the brutal dictator Bashar Assad," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said after the Moscow meeting.

The U.S. has mainly partnered with the YPG in fighting against Daesh in Syria but Ankara strongly opposes the PKK/YPG’s presence in the region from where it conducts attacks on Turkish territory and terrorizes local Syrians. Multiple Turkish officials have underlined that "subcontracting" a terrorist group to fight another was "a mistake."

Any normalization between Ankara and Damascus would reshape the decadelong Syrian war. Turkish backing has been vital to sustaining moderate Syrian opposition in their last significant territorial foothold in the northwest.

The Astana Format meeting of guarantor countries remains the only path to a political solution for now.