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| Arabia |
| Ahmadinejad meets King Abulla |
| 2007-03-03 |
| IRANIAN President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met King Abdullah overnight after arriving in Saudi Arabia for talks expected to focus on the sectarian bloodshed in Iraq, the crisis in Lebanon and Tehran's nuclear row with the West. The king hosted a dinner for the Iranian leader, whom he greeted earlier at an airbase in Riyadh in a red-carpet but brief ceremony which underlined the working nature of the visit. Talks were expected to start after the banquet. Mr Ahmadinejad previously saw the king at an Islamic summit in Mecca in December 2005, and was due to spend only a few hours in Saudi Arabia. Before leaving Tehran, Mr Ahmadinejad said he would discuss how Iran and the kingdom could work together to reduce tensions in the Middle East. "We will discuss with King Abdullah the joint work that we have to carry out in the Islamic world and the region," he said. "Iran and Saudi Arabia are two significant countries whose relations in recent years have been expanding and developing, and we are interested in expanding our stable ties," he said. Relations between the two regional heavyweights have been strained over non-Arab Iran's growing influence in Iraq and its perceived backing of Shiite militias battling the once-ruling Sunni minority there. The Iranian president, whose country has been accused by the United States of meddling in the region, also said Iran was ready to do all it could to reduce political tensions in Lebanon. "If Lebanon requests the Islamic Republic of Iran to assist its national unity and independence then we are ready to help," he said. Lebanon has severely tested ties between predominantly Shiite Iran and Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia, a key US ally which provides substantial financial aid to Beirut and which has close links with the Western-backed government of Sunni Prime Minister Fuad Siniora. The anti-Syrian Lebanese administration has been crippled by an opposition ministerial walkout and an open-ended protest spearheaded by the Iranian-backed Shiite movement Hezbollah, raising fears of Sunni-Shiite clashes. Lebanon's parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri arrived in Riyadh earlier on Saturday. A source close to Hariri said he would have contacts with Saudi officials on issues connected to Lebanon and the region. Iran is also accused by the United States, Riyadh's top Western ally, of arming Shiite militants attacking US forces in Iraq - a charge that Tehran vehemently denies. "We should allow the Iraqis to implement their decisions and enforce security themselves," Mr Ahmadinejad said overnight. In December, King Abdullah likened the situation in the Arab world to "a powder keg waiting for a spark to explode," and Riyadh and Tehran recently began working together to reduce tensions in Lebanon. The two oil powerhouses have sought to contain differences over Iraq, which at one point saw Saudi Arabia accusing the United States of effectively handing the country to Iran and triggered reports - swiftly denied by Riyadh - of possible Saudi intervention on behalf of Sunnis. Saudi commentators see Mr Ahmadinejad's visit as a sign that the two countries are pooling efforts to ease regional crises at a time when Tehran is under heavy Western pressure over its nuclear ambitions and Riyadh is keen to avert a US-Iran military showdown which could destabilise the entire Gulf region.peThe visit "might yield a joint initiative" to break the deadlock in Lebanon and lead to "an understanding that will ease the conflict in Iraq," analyst Anwar Eshki said. Newspaper Al-Riyadh said a "half success" of the Saudi-Iranian summit would be "better than the continuation of crises" in regional trouble spots. "Mr President," said the Saudi Gazette, "your visit in this darkest hour yet for our region offers hope" of achieving Muslim unity. "As we people of the desert know, it's always darkest before dawn." Mr Ahmadinejad's moderate predecessor, Mohammad Khatami, visited Saudi Arabia in 1999 and 2002, repairing relations which had nosedived after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. |
| Posted by:tipper |