Iran and Saudis Plan Summit Talks on Crises
By Hassan M. Fattah and Nazila Fathi, New York Times, 2 March 2007
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, March 1 — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran will visit Saudi Arabia on Saturday for a summit meeting with King Abdullah intended to tackle the Middle East’s growing sectarian and political crises, Iranian officials said Thursday.
The visit, Mr. Ahmadinejad’s first state visit to Saudi Arabia, was initiated by Iran, said a former Saudi official with knowledge of the discussions.
It marks the culmination of months of diplomatic efforts by the two regional powers, as well as other Arab countries, to settle the political standoff in Lebanon, cool sectarian violence in Iraq and possibly even avert a looming confrontation with the United States.
To some the trip is seen as a defensive move by an increasingly isolated Iran while to others it marks the start of another public relations offensive for the bellicose president.
It seems to me that pro-western assets in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan have never been more isolated from people in the region. The princes may have personal exit strategies should the insurgents who wage war against the Shia in Iraq ever come knocking, but the U.S./Israeli governments face only debilitating quagmires. An attack on Iran would serve no good purpose.