Arab leaders exchanged visits, envoys and messages on Tuesday in a bid to explore a peaceful end to the standoff between Iraq and the United States. Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa - whose country is home to the U.S. Navy 5th Fleet - made a quick trip to Kuwait, which could be a launch pad for a possible war on Iraq. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak discussed Iraq in a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Before leaving for the kingdom, the Egyptian leader received Bahrain's Information Minister Nabeel al-Hamer, who said he was hopeful the ongoing Arab consultations would yield positive results.

"All Arab leaders are seeking to set aside the specter of war," he told reporters.

Arab leaders have warned that a new war in the Gulf would impede social and economic development in the volatile Middle East and would enrage Arabs and Muslims, who already feel that U.S. policies in the region are biased against them.

They have also said a war on Iraq would exacerbate the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, and will be disastrous for ordinary Iraqis who have suffered from 12 years of U.N. sanctions.

There have been reports that Arab envoys have consulted with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on the possibility of him abdicating as a way to avert a war, mentioning Egypt and Saudi Arabia as mediators. The two countries have denied the reports.

King Hamad, who met with the Kuwaiti emir, Sheik Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah, said a strike against Iraq would be "extremely expensive" and could have serious consequences on the area and the rest of the world, according to the official Kuwait News Agency.

"We hope that at the end of the day the option of peace and political agreement would prevail," KUNA quoted Hamad as saying.

The island-nation of Bahrain - a close U.S. ally - has seen violent anti-American protests in the past year. A teenage protester was killed in clashes between riot police and demonstrators outside the U.S. Embassy in April.

Kuwait is now hosting more than 17,000 U.S. military personnel, part of a buildup in the area aimed at pressuring Baghdad to give up its weapons of mass destruction. U.S. President George W. Bush has threatened to invade Iraq if Baghdad fails to come clean.

Mubarak is expected to receive a close aide and cousin to Saddam, Gen. Ali Hassan al-Majid, on Friday. This will be the second visit by an Iraqi senior official to Mubarak since last November.

In Syria, a Foreign Ministry official speaking on condition of anonymity said Syrian President Bashar Assad is expected to travel to Iran Wednesday to discuss the Iraq situation.

Syrian Vice president Abdul-Halim Khaddam began Tuesday a three-day visit to Russia to convey a message from Assad to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa is also on a visit to Turkey to discuss Iraq issue.

PHOTO CAPTION

Arab leaders (Assad of Syria, L; Mubarak of Egypt, C; Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, R) exchanged visits, envoys and messages on Tuesday in a bid to explore a peaceful end to the standoff between Iraq and the United State