U.S. chides Arab states for not doing more on Iraq

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. ambassador to Iraq chided Arab nations on Friday for not doing more to help the country and suggested greater Arab diplomatic engagement with Iraq would help counterbalance Iran's influence.

"You can't beat something with nothing," U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker told reporters, pointing to the absence of Arab ambassadors in Baghdad and the scarcity of high-level visits by senior Arab officials.

Arab officials fear that the U.S.-led March 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the subsequent violence, has strengthened Iranian influence in the region. Their concerns are also fueled by suspicions -- which Iran denies -- that Tehran's atomic program is designed to obtain nuclear weapons.

"I cannot recall a single ministerial-level visit from any Arab state in the year that I have been there. There are no Arab ambassadors in Baghdad. Iraqis are getting a little sensitive to this and by no means just the Shi'ites," he said.

"If the Arabs are concerned about Iranian influence and encroachments in Iraq ... They need to be diplomatically involved there. They need to be economically involved. They need to be working on development issues," Crocker added.

"They need to demonstrate to the Iraqis -- the people, not just the government -- that the Arabs care what happens there and want what happens there to be positive both for Iraq and for the region," he added.

Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, testified before the U.S. Congress for two days this week. Petraeus warned lawmakers that progress in Iraq, where violence has fallen since the surge of 20,000 additional U.S. combat troops last year, was "fragile and reversible."

The two men plan to visit Saudi Arabia, which made promises last year to look into opening an embassy in Baghdad, to make the case that Arab nations should do more.

"I am here to tell you, and come Monday will be there to tell them, that in fact you can run an embassy under current conditions," he said. "You can do this -- as a number of non-Arab missions prove every day."

Crocker said the United States remained ready to talk to Iran about improving security in Iraq. He also sought to tamp down speculation that Washington -- which routinely refuses to rule out a military option against Tehran -- might be headed toward armed conflict with Iran.

"No one is talking about a war with Iran," Crocker said.

He said he believed there has been a backlash among Iraqis against suspected Iranian-backed violence in Iraq and support for Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's crackdown on Shi'ite militants in Basra.

"Iran's influence is limited in Iraq," he said. "After these recent developments and the backlash it has created against the militias and against Iran, it may be more limited even that it was.

"The Iranians are not going to take over Iraq and my sense is that the harder they push, the more resistance they encounter," he said.

(Writing by Arshad Mohammed, editing by Eric Beech)