SAUDI ARABIA: U.S's House of representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi arrives in Riyadh for talks with Saudi king

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday (April 4) for talks with King Abdullah, Saudi and U.S. officials said. Pelosi arrived from Damascus where she met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a two-day trip that President George W. Bush described as "counterproductive" and sending "mixed signals". Pelosi is set to visit Saudi Arabia's unelected quasi-parliament on Thursday (April 5) after visiting King Abdullah's ranch outside Riyadh on Wednesday night, officials said. The regional tour reflects a tug-of-war between the U.S. Democratic Party and President George W. Bush over foreign policy. Pelosi, a California Democrat, is next in line to the U.S. presidency after the vice-president and her high-level talks with Syria's President drew international headlines. The United States withdrew its ambassador to Syria in early 2005. Normally close U.S.-Saudi relations witnessed a rift last week when King Abdullah said the U.S. occupation in Iraq was "illegitimate" in a speech to an Arab summit in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia has embarked on intensive diplomacy in recent months to ease violent clashes and strife in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, where the influence of anti-Western power Iran is on the rise. Saudi Arabia also helped broker a deal between Islamist group Hamas, shunned by Washington as a militant group, and Western-backed Palestinian group Fatah, on creating a unity government. Diplomats in Riyadh say the Bush administration's response to the Palestinian deal was cold. Although Riyadh shares U.S. concern about growing Iranian influence in the region, Saudi Arabia has engaged Tehran in talks to ease the regional tensions.

ITN Source | April 5, 2007

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