George W. Bush to reaffirm strong ties with Saudi Arabia

By Tabassum Zakaria

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - President George W. Bush heads to Saudi Arabia on Monday to encourage active support for Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking and seek help in maintaining American pressure on Iran.

Bush will spend two nights in the kingdom, after stops in Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. He will visit Egypt before heading back to Washington on Wednesday.

His main message for Gulf Arab allies during this trip has been to support peacemaking efforts and curb Iran's growing influence in the region.

Analysts have said there are signs that Arab allies of the United States are unwilling to shun Iran, pointing as an example to Saudi Arabia's invitation to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to attend the Haj. He was the first Iranian president to receive an official invitation to the annual Muslim pilgrimage.

The Bush administration said it had heard a different account of that invitation.

"That's not what we are told, interestingly enough. We are told that Ahmadinejad, as he has done from time to time, invited himself," a senior administration official said.

"So if someone asks to come, the Saudis' view is, it's very difficult for them as the custodian of the two holy mosques, which is the whole point of the Haj, for them to say no," the official said on condition of anonymity.

Bush has been sounding a warning about Iran as a threat in the region throughout this trip to the Middle East. In a speech in Abu Dhabi on Sunday he declared that "Iran is today the world's leading state sponsor of terror."