Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki is in Damascus for talks with Syria's President Bashar Assad on the «latest Mideast developments. » But the two are also expected to discuss a request by the French president that Assad help persuade Tehran to cooperate with the international community over its nuclear program, the Associated Press reported. French President Nicolas Sarkozy met Assad at a Euro-Med summit last weekend in Paris. Assad promised to relay the request from France to Tehran.