Tehran has shown a reluctance to sign up for the May 3-4 conference in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, citing unhappiness with the decision to include world powers such as the United States as well as Iraq’s neighbours.
"Taking into account the moves of the Iraqi officials, the Iranian officials are following this question positively and our position will be announced today or tomorrow," said foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini.
Iraqi officials have been seeking to persuade Tehran to take part, and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari held talks last week in Tehran with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki.
Hosseini confirmed that Iran’s top national security official Ali Larijani would now go to Baghdad to discuss the conference, in a previously unannounced visit.
"The visit of Mr Larijani is in the framework of bilateral relations. He will probably talk about security questions and the international conference," he told reporters.
The spokesman said that the visit would be "clarified" on Sunday or Monday, although state television cited a source in the Iraqi embassy as saying that Larijani would leave on Sunday.
Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh was expected in Tehran later on Sunday for more discussions, although a morning news conference with Mottaki was postponed and there were unconfirmed reports the visit had been cancelled.
Zebari failed to win a clear pledge from Iran to attend the conference on his visit, but there have been mounting calls from influential voices inside Iran for Tehran to participate.
Former foreign minister Kamal Kharazi, who is now a member of the strategic foreign policy council that advises the supreme leader, said on Friday that Iran should attend the conference for the sake of Iraq.
"Iran absolutely must participate in this conference," added Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, according to the Fars news agency.
"It is possible that the United States will make accusations against Iran and our representatives must be there to reply to them," he said.