Tehran  - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will be in Iran for a one-day visit some time next week, Fars news agency reported Sunday.

Assad has reportedly accepted a mediation role between Tehran and Paris to enable the release of the French lecturer Clotilde Reiss, with the Syrian president expected to try to persuade Tehran to release the young French woman.

Reiss is charged with espionage after she admitted in court last week that she attended protest demonstrations against alleged fraud in the June 12 presidential election and presented the French embassy in Tehran with a report.

Syria is one of the closest allies of Iran and relations between Assad and re-elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are very good. Observers believe that Assad's mediation efforts would be successful. (dpa)