Iranian president to visit Saudi on Saturday

TEHRAN, March 1 (Reuters) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will travel to Saudi Arabia on Saturday to hold talks on regional issues, an Iranian official said today.

US-allied Arab governments fear that Shi'ite power Iran is gaining in influence in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. Sunni bastion Saudi Arabia blames Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias for sectarian killings of Sunni Iraqis.

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.

Saudi and Iranian officials have met several times in recent weeks to mediate between Lebanese opposition forces led by Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria, and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's US and Saudi-backed government.

But their talks, as well as Saudi contacts with Washington and Paris and Iranian talks with its closest regional ally Syria, appear to have made little headway.

''President Ahmadinejad will travel to Saudi Arabia on Saturday,'' said the official, who asked not to be named. He said the president would leave the kingdom on Sunday and talks would cover regional affairs but he gave no further details.

A Lebanese political source in Beirut said Iran wanted to break the ice between Saudis and Syrians -- a key element in defusing Lebanon's crisis -- before an Arab League summit set for March in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi commentators, noting Syrian officials have not visited Saudi Arabia in months, say Riyadh might want a thaw in its relations with Damascus to pry Syria away from Iran.

Hezbollah-led opposition demands veto power in the Sunni-led government and early parliamentary elections. Siniora has refused to agree. Lebanon's government has no Shi'ite representatives after all Shi'ite ministers quit last November.

The standoff has led to clashes between supporters of both camps in which 10 people have been killed and more than 400 injured.

Opposition followers have been camped outside Siniora's offices in central Beirut since December. 1.

The crisis in Lebanon and Sunni-Shi'ite fighting in Iraq has led to fears of Islamic sectarian divides deepening in the Middle East region.

Saudi Arabia, a key ally of Washington in the Middle East, Iran and Syria have accepted Baghdad's invitation to attend a regional conference on ways of easing tensions in Iraq in March.

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