“We are still hearing the declarations and we should wait for actions and then decide,” Assad said in comments broadcast on Syrian state television.

In a Sunday CBS interview, Kerry did not repeat the standard U.S. line that Assad had lost all legitimacy and had to go. “We have to negotiate in the end,” Kerry said when asked whether the United States would be willing to negotiate with Assad.

Kerry said the United States and other countries, which he did not name, were exploring ways to reignite the diplomatic process to end the conflict in Syria, which has left more than 200,000 dead.