VIENNA — Foreign ministers from 17 nations, including those arming opposing sides in Syria’s civil war, were able to reach several points of agreement after seven hours of difficult talks here that included arch rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia for the first time.

But stark disagreements, including over whether Syria’s Bashar al-Assad should be allowed to stand in any new elections, remain unresolved, the ministers acknowledged, and plans to include Syrian government and opposition representatives in future rounds of talks, in as early as two weeks, are likely to make the diplomatic path ahead even more difficult.

“I believe the diplomatic situation is today more promising because all the stakeholders came to this table” for the first time, US Secretary of State John Kerry told journalists Oct. 30 at a rare joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, after the all-day talks.

“There were tough conversations today,” Kerry said. But the “foreign ministers who came here today [did so] with the conviction that the fighting and the killing absolutely has to end. And it’s up to us to try to find a way to do that.”