Iraq and U.S. to urge Arabs to boost ties with Baghdad

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq and the United States will press Arab nations to strengthen ties with the Baghdad government at a meeting in Kuwait on Tuesday at a time when Iran's influence in the war-racked country is growing.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who will attend the meeting of Iraq's neighbors, said last week she wants Arab states to shield Iraq from Iran's "nefarious influences".

No ambassador from any Arab nation is stationed permanently in Baghdad. Visits by top officials from Arab states, which regard Iran with suspicion and have been reluctant to extend full legitimacy to Iraq's U.S.-backed government, are also rare.

By contrast, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a high-profile trip to Baghdad last month. Officials also say Iran played a key role in halting fighting between Iraqi security forces and Shi'ite militias in southern Iraq late last month.

Clashes have erupted again with the Mehdi Army militia of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, but the Iranian intervention showed Tehran's clout in Iraq, said Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington thinktank.

"It is not coincidental that the Iranian president travelled to Iraq in a visit that was announced long in advance or that the Iranians were deeply involved in the ceasefire with the Mehdi Army," Alterman said.

Iraq is a mostly Arab nation while Iran's roots are Persian. Both countries, however, have majority Shi'ite populations.

Washington, which accuses Iran of stoking violence in Iraq, has long urged Sunni Arab states to beef up embassies in Baghdad as a sign of support for the Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Rice on Sunday urged Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in particular to fulfil promises to do so and called on Arab states to grant debt relief to Baghdad.

"I think it is fair to say that the neighbors could do more to live up to their obligations because I do believe the Iraqis are beginning to live up to theirs," she told reporters on her way to Bahrain and Kuwait.

Maliki will lead Iraq's delegation at the Kuwait meeting and both he and Rice are expected to press Arab states on the issue of opening or expanding embassies.

Egypt said on Friday it would not send an ambassador to Baghdad unless security improved. Militants kidnapped and killed Egypt's envoy to Iraq in 2005.

Saudi Arabia promised last year to open an embassy in Baghdad but has so far failed to follow through.

The Kuwait meeting will be a follow-on from gatherings of Iraq's neighbors as well as permanent members of the U.N. Security Council that were held in Turkey and Egypt last year.

Talks will also focus on security in Iraq, including boosting intelligence sharing and improving border controls.

IRAQ INVITED TO BAHRAIN MEETING

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters last week the decision by Arab states to only have low-level ties with Baghdad stemmed from a view that Iraq was not fully independent given the presence of large numbers of U.S. troops.

But in a sign Arab states were coming around, Zebari has been invited for the first time to a meeting of foreign ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council as well as Egypt, Jordan and the United States. Those talks will be held in Bahrain on Monday, the day before the Kuwait gathering.

The council comprises Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Tehran denies charges from Washington that it equips, trains and funds Shi'ite militias in Iraq who attack U.S. troops. It also regularly voices support for Maliki's government.

One Western diplomat in Iran said the Kuwait meeting might be used to galvanize Arab states to be more proactive given the influence Tehran is showing in Iraq.

"If they don't do anything, the Iraq situation is going to be completely dominated by Iran because Iran is actually doing something," the diplomat said.

While Rice is likely to be in the same room with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in Kuwait, she has said she has no plans for any bilateral talks with him over Iraq.