U.S. President Barack Obama's special envoy to the Gulf and Southwestern Asia, Dennis Ross, arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and held talks with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, reported the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
The SPA report said that Ross and Prince Saud al-Faisal discussed "bilateral relations and regional issues of mutual concern" during their meeting, adding that the visiting U.S. envoy is also scheduled to meet with Saudi King Abdullah later in the day.
This is Ross's first visit to the region after taking office, and he is expected to visit the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and Egypt during his weeklong tour to the region.
The US State Department said before Ross left on his weeklong tour to the region that he would hold talks on "issues of mutual and regional concern" with the leaders of the Gulf States that he was visiting.
However, it is widely believed that his trip to the region is mainly aimed at shoring support from the mostly Sunni states for the U.S. efforts to persuade Iran to back off from its disputed nuclear program.
Earlier in the month, China, France, Germany, Russia, Britain and the U.S., the six world powers coordinating the nuclear talks with Iran over its disputed nuclear program, had invited the Iranians for fresh direct negotiations to find a diplomatic solution to the issue.
Separately, the U.S. had announced that it would participate directly in the proposed direct talks between six major world powers and Iran in an effort to persuade the Islamic Republic to roll back on its disputed nuclear program.
Last week, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had responded positively to the offer for direct negotiations, saying that his government will offer the six world powers a fresh package of measures aimed at resolving the ongoing stand-off over Tehran's disputed nuclear program.
Though Iran insists that its nuclear program is intended for peaceful civilian power production purposes, the West suspects that it is just a cover up for the Islamic country's nuclear weapon ambitions.
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