Iraq PM says Saudi not interested in better ties

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Thursday Iraq's efforts to build diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia had not been reciprocated and more would be "useless" without a change of heart from Riyadh.

Iraq has tried to repair ties with neighbours damaged during the rule of Saddam Hussein.

The country enjoys better relations with Syria, Iran and some smaller Gulf states since the 2003 U.S.-led ousting of Saddam, but relations with Saudi Arabia have deteriorated.

Saudi Arabia sees itself as the leader of Sunni Islam and is deeply suspicious of Iraq's Shi'ite-led government and Maliki's Dawa party, which has its roots in a call for Shi'ite political revival and enjoys links to Iran.

"We succeeded in opening ourselves to many countries, but Saudi has negative positions," Maliki said in a statement on the Iraqi government's website.

"We rushed to create not just a normal but positive relation (with the Saudis), but the initiative was mistakenly understood as a weakness."

Maliki has in the past year played down his Shi'ite Islamist roots, reaching out to Sunni Arabs by cracking down on Shi'ite militants in Baghdad and south Iraq, forging ties with Sunni Arabs in parliament and abandoning an overtly sectarian stance in his campaign for provincial elections this year.

"We continue to be ready for any Saudi initiative but we have used up initiatives from our side and it would be useless to repeat them unless Saudi has a clear intention to (improve) these relations," Maliki said.

The United States has urged Iraq's neighbours to upgrade diplomatic ties to Iraq. But visits by top officials from Arab states, which have been reluctant to extend full legitimacy to Iraq's U.S.-backed government, remain rare. Saudi Arabia has yet to appoint an ambassador to the country.