Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Riyadh on Saturday on his first official visit to Saudi Arabia, a trip that many in the region hope will help calm sectarian tensions threatening the Middle East as well as conflicts in Iraq and Lebanon.

King Abdullah, the Saudi monarch, received Ahmadinejad at the airport, the official Saudi Press Agency news agency reported.

The Saudi king held talks with Iranian Ahmadinejad who was on his first official trip to Saudi Arabia.

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A Saudi official said earlier the Sunni Muslim kingdom would seek Shi'ite Iran's help to ease sectarian tensions in Iraq erupting into full-blown civil war.

"The two parties have agreed to stop any attempt aimed at spreading sectarian strife in the region," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters without elaborating.

The Iranian president visited the kingdom in December 2005, but only to participate in an Islamic summit in the holy city of Mecca.

Ahmadinejad's trip comes amid developments that threaten to further isolate his country and step up international sanctions against it because of its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment.

On Saturday, top diplomats from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany will try to reach an agreement on new sanctions against Iran. A U.S. official predicted the session would lead to a substantive resolution.

The push for new sanctions follows an International Atomic Energy Agency report in late February that Iran was expanding enrichment instead of
suspending it.

At the same time, the U.S. has been bolstering its military presence in the Gulf in the past two months. Although Washington has said it has no plans to strike Iran, it has also refused to rule out any option.

Regionally, most Arab governments, which are overwhelmingly Sunni, have signaled impatience and worry over mostly Shiite Iran's backing of co-religionists in Iraq and Lebanon, saying such support can only destabilize the region.

Dawood al-Shirian, a Saudi journalist and analyst, said the visit should be viewed with optimism, especially since it culminates weeks of talks between the two countries.

He said that if Riyadh was not sure that the talks will be successful, it would not have held it now.

"Saudi Arabia is not a politically bankrupt country looking for a show for its foreign policies," he said. "If it didn't know that the visit would add to its political achievements, it wouldn't have been enthusiastic about it."

Saudi newspapers, which are government-guided, struck a welcoming tone in editorials, saying they hoped Ahmadinejad's visit signals an Iranian willingness to revise its regional policies and work with, rather than against, Arab governments.

"We wish you the very best on your first official visit to Saudi Arabia," said the Saudi Gazette.

The paper said the challenge facing the two countries is how to unite the
Islamic world, which is in danger of fragmenting because of sectarian
tensions.

"How did we ever allow ourselves to slip into this situation? What good is our common cause if we waste our energies and resources on self-destruction rather than self-preservation?" said the paper.

"Mr. President, your visit signals your best intentions of addressing these questions right away in order to prevent a further fall of the (Islamic world) into the abyss of irrelevance," it added.

Ghassan Sharbil, the Lebanese editor of the Saudi-owned Al-Hayat daily, described the visit as exceptional and said Ahmadinejad can, if he wants to, turn it into an opportunity for his country.

"Iran has proved its capability of destabilization... cold and hot objections," wrote Sharbil. "Now, it's time to prove its ability to participate in creating stability.

Ahmadinejad can invest in this summit to calm down the Arab world, the Islamic world and the whole globe in order to protect Iran against isolation, the dangers of an American strike and a new resolution by the Security Council.

Iranian analysts believe that Ahmadinejad will reach out to try to ease
regional tensions.

Independent writer Saeed Leylaz said, Since Ahmadinejad's harsh rhetoric is partly responsible for the cooling in relations, he is taking this step to redress (the situation).

But Leylaz doubts that the talks will achieve a major breakthrough, predicting that the visit may help Tehran and Riyadh to maintain a higher level of contacts to deal with regional issues.

Television pundit Hasan Beheshtipour believes that the Iranian president will try to put to rest what he called misunderstandings between the two countries regarding Iranian influence in Iraq, the Palestinian territories and Lebanon.

Iranian newspapers simply published official reports that Ahmadinejad will be visiting Saudi Arabia later Saturday.

Only one newspaper included some opinion its report. The daily Tehran-e-Emrooz, or Today's Tehran, said Ahmadinejad's administration is seeking improved ties with Saudi Arabia to increases chances of resolving the Middle East conflict without much U.S. intervention and at the same time ease Saudi worries over Iran's nuclear activities.

Trying to help improve cool relations between Saudi Arabia and Syria to resolve the Lebanese crisis ahead of the Arab League meeting is another goal of Ahmadinejad's visit to Saudi, the independent Tehran-e-Emrooz said.

The paper said growing tensions between Iran and the U.S. over Tehran's nuclear activities have caused unease in Riyadh, and Tehran needs to engage Riyadh in talks so that Saudi does not support U.S. policies against Iran.

The paper also said Iran and Saudi talks can help a lot in resolving the Lebanese crisis.