Iran envoy Larijani visits Saudi for nuclear talks

Riyadh, Feb 15: Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani visited Saudi Arabia for talks expected to cover Iran's nuclear energy programme, which is opposed by the West and Saudi Arabia, Iranian media said.

Iran's official IRNA news agency quoted sources in Saudi Arabia as saying the aim of the visit was ''to exchange views over Iran's nuclear issue and the recent changes in the region.'' ''According to Saudi news sources, Larijani will also discuss the significant role of Iran and Saudi Arabia in resolving the Lebanese crisis as well as current developments in the Middle East region,'' it said.

Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television said Larijani held talks on Lebanon with Prince Bandar bin Sultan, secretary-general of Saudi Arabia's National Security Council.

It quoted unnamed officials as saying the two sides expressed ''satisfaction at the Saudi-Iranian rapprochement on a solution to the political crisis in Lebanon''.

The United States and its regional allies including Israel and Saudi Arabia suspect Iran's nuclear energy programme aims to develop weapons, a charge Tehran denies.

Conservative US-ally Saudi Arabia is worried that, exploiting the US failure to pacify Iraq, Iran is expanding its influence in the Arab world and encouraging radical forces opposed to a perceived political order in the region.

Saudi Arabia has been developing contacts with Iran to try to help defuse sectarian tensions in Lebanon. Prince Bandar visited Tehran, Moscow and Paris last month after clashes between supporters of the Western and Saudi-backed Lebanese government and Iranian-backed opposition.

Larijani was in Riyadh last month for talks with Saudi officials which also covered Iran's role in Iraq, where Sunni bastion Saudi Arabia blames Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias for sectarian killings of Sunni Iraqis.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said Iran and Saudi Arabia wanted to take action to stop the sectarian strife getting further out of control.

''They (the Iranians) expressed recently their anxiety about possible efforts to divide the Muslim world between Sunnis and Shi'ites and this is something that we are anxious about,'' he said, referring to Larijani's visit last month.

''We look forward to agreements and action on the ground to see what both countries can do to prevent it,'' he said. He made no reference to Larijani's unannounced visit.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah told Larijani last month that Shi'ite power Iran was putting the Gulf region in danger, in reference to Tehran's nuclear programme and activities in Iraq that many fear could lead to a US war with Iran.

Reuters

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