Report: Iran's President Ahmadinejad to Visit Saudi Arabia

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Iran's president heads to Saudi Arabia on Saturday for discussions with King Abdullah, an indication that weeks of talks between their envoys on simmering conflicts in Iraq and Lebanon have made some headway.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Riyadh comes as the U.S. is pushing for harsher U.N. sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, and it may reflect that he is looking for a way out of a tight corner.

Ahmadinejad is expected to travel to Saudi Arabia on Saturday for a one-day visit, a Saudi Foreign Ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Iran's ambassador to Riyadh, Mohammad Hosseini, confirmed that Ahmadinejad's trip was "imminent," but declined to elaborate, Iran's official IRNA news agency said.

The visit will culminate weeks of diplomatic activities spearheaded by Saudi Arabia, including talks between Iranian and Saudi diplomats, a meeting between Abdullah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the accord reached in the Saudi city of Mecca to form a unity Palestinian government.

It also precedes a conference on Iraq in Baghdad on March 10, which will include its neighbors, Iran and Syria, as well as the U.S. and Britain. At the end of the month, an Arab summit is planned in the Saudi capital.

Read the rest at the Times Courier

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