"And I think clearly some of our friends in the Arab world can do more on that score," the official said of Cheney's coming visit to Oman and Saudi Arabia.

But some analysts have doubt about any major breakthroughs when Cheney talks about the matter with Arab countries.

"I don't think that he's going to be able to bring back anything meaningful because he's got nothing to offer," said Steven Simon, a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

"He represents a lame duck president, a floundering economy, a situation in which the US for all its efforts in Iraq has no leverage on the government in Baghdad," Simon noted.

Iran, PKK concerned 

Of all Mideast issues, Iran has been on top of the White House agenda. Local media quoted an unidentified US official as reporting that Cheney will tell leaders of the allied countries that Iran remains to be grave concern of the United States, and that Iran's growing regional influence must be contained.

"I expect in all of these countries that the challenge we face from Iran will be a very high topic of conversation," the official said.

On Turkey, which is the last stop of Cheny, the official said that Cheney will send a message to Turkish leaders that the United States will continue supporting Ankara to fight against Turkey's separatist organization Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), listed by both the United States and Turkey as a terrorist group.

(Xinhua News Agency March 17, 2008)