DUBAI, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad will attend a summit of Muslim leaders in Saudi
Arabia expected to focus on Syria, Iranian media said on Monday,
as tensions between Tehran and Riyadh run high over their
opposing stances on regional uprisings.
The extraordinary summit of the Organisation of Islamic
Countries (OIC) is to be held in Mecca next week.
"Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be present at this summit at the
invitation of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia," Mohammad Reza
Forghani, the director of international affairs in Ahmadinejad's
office, was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.
Saudi Arabia's Sunni leaders have accused predominantly
Shi'ite Iran of stoking what they see as sectarian unrest in the
region. Iran has expressed support for Shi'ite-led protests in
Bahrain against the ruling Sunni Al Khalifa family, allies of
Saudi Arabia.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast
said recently the OIC summit should focus on the unrest in
Bahrain, Iran's Fars News Agency reported.
The two regional powers also disagree on the uprising in
Syria, where predominantly Sunni rebels are fighting to topple
the government of President Bashar al-Assad, whose Alawite power
base is an offshoot of Shi'ism.
Iran has steadfastly supported Assad's efforts to suppress
the rebellion, and has accused Western powers and countries in
the region of encouraging chaos in Syria by sending fighters and
arms there.
Senior Iranian lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi said on Sunday
that the summit in Saudi Arabia would be unlikely to yield any
results given Riyadh's "hostile stances" toward Syria, Iranian
media reported.
Ahmadinejad made his first official trip to Saudi Arabia in
March 2007, when he and King Abdullah agreed to fight the spread
of sectarian strife.
(Reporting By Yeganeh Torbati; Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)