Iranian President Mohammad Khatami arrived in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah on Saturday for talks with Saudi leaders about the Iraq crisis. Both Saudi Arabia and Iran share borders with Iraq, and the Gulf superpowers have opposed a U.S. military strike against Baghdad, saying it would destabilize the entire region. Riyadh has also refused to allow any U.S. strike from its territory.

Saudi officials and Iranian diplomats said Khatami, on his second visit to the kingdom, would discuss the crisis with Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Abdullah, at the palace in the Red Sea port of Jeddah.

The talks aim to reach "a unified Islamic position" on the Iraq crisis, a Jeddah-based Iranian diplomat told the Saudi newspaper the Arab News.

The focus will be "what will happen to the region if the United States makes good on its threats against Iraq," he added. "They will also discuss bilateral ties."

Washington has branded Iran, along with Iraq and North Korea, as part of "an axis of evil" for seeking weapons of mass destruction and has warned it might attack Iraq to topple President Saddam Hussein.

This week, President Bush demanded the United Nations impose a deadline for Iraq to obey its resolutions on disarmament, but Baghdad has rejected the unconditional return of U.N. weapons inspectors.

Saudi Arabia has long been a key U.S. ally in the Middle East and has 5,000 U.S. troops on its soil. Saudi opposition to attacking Iraq has strained ties with Washington.

On Thursday, Iranian Vice President Mohammadali Abtahi told Reuters the talks would focus on regional tensions: "Iran and Saudi Arabia are two great and important countries in the region, and their cooperation could help to solve the region's problems."

Shia Muslim Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia are both major oil producers. Their relations have improved since the 1997 election of the moderate Khatami.

Saudi officials said Khatami's visit, the second by an Iranian head of state since the 1979 Islamic revolution, marked a step toward better ties.

Oil will also probably feature in the Jeddah talks, with a meeting to chart output policy for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) a little more than a week away.

Khatami arrived in the kingdom on Wednesday. He has visited the Muslim holy sites of Mecca and Medina and performed the minor pilgrimage or umra.

He was due to leave for Tehran later on Saturday and was not expected to talk to the media.

PHOTO CAPTION

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami smiles during a news conference in Tehran, August 28, 2002. Khatami said Iran is ready to withstand any U.S. attack but it hoped that Washington would not target the Islamic republic during any possible strikes against neighboring Iraq. REUTERS