U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has held talks with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah on violence in neighboring Iraq and the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

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The talks were also expected to tackle the standoff between the West and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program.

"All developments on the regional and international arenas were discussed, foremost of which was the Palestinian issue and the situation in Iraq," the official Saudi Press Agency said of the late Monday night talks.

A Saudi official said on Monday Iran had asked Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally, to help ease tensions between the Islamic Republic and the United States, as Washington held out the possibility of "engagement" with Tehran if it changed tack in Iraq.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani delivered a letter from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah ahead of Rice's visit to Riyadh.

The official, who declined to be named, said Iran wanted Saudi leaders to relay a goodwill message to Washington. But the official gave no details.

Tensions have been rising over Iran's role in Iraq and its nuclear programme. There has also been growing criticism in Iran of Ahmadinejad's approach of railing publicly against the West that more moderate politicians say has stoked fears abroad.

U.S. forces are holding five Iranians after raiding an Iranian government office in the Iraqi city of Arbil last week - the second such operation in Iraq in the past few weeks.

President George W. Bush has vowed to stop what he said was the role of Shiite Muslim Iran in fomenting violence in Iraq.

Bush is sending about 20,000 more U.S. troops to Iraq to help stamp out an insurgency and sectarian bloodshed between Iraq's Shi'ite majority and its Sunni Arab minority, once dominant under Saddam Hussein.