Ban had earlier made the surprise announcement that Iran would be allowed to attend the talks, which are due to start on Wednesday in the Swiss town of Montreux.
This was met with consternation by the main Syrian opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, which said it would boycott the conference unless Iran was excluded.
The US also called on the UN to withdraw Iran’s invitation, on the grounds that Tehran had refused to accept an accord reached in Geneva in 2012 calling for a transitional government for Syria.
Ban said he had issued the invitation after Iran’s foreign minister assured him Tehran accepted the earlier accord.
But Iran subsequently denied this and said it had accepted Ban’s invitation “without pre-conditions” - the phrase it has long used to spurn the earlier agreement.
Announcing the withdrawal of the invitation, Ban’s spokesman Martin Nesirky said, “He (Ban) continues to urge Iran to join the global consensus behind the Geneva communique.
“Given that it has chosen to remain outside that basic understanding, (Ban) has decided that the one-day Montreux gathering will proceed without Iran’s participation.”
The Syria National Coalition confirmed it will now attend the talks, which it is hoped will help bring an end to a conflict that has killed more than 130,000 people.
Iran is the main foreign backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and its presence has been one of the most contentious issues looming over the first talks to be attended by both Assad's government and opponents.
