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KUWAIT -- The United States won Saudi backing on Tuesday for a U.S. plan to stabilize Iraq, but Washington's Gulf ally said success depended on Baghdad tackling sectarian strife driving the country toward civil war.

As part her Arab tour to lobby support for the new U.S. plan for Iraq, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Kuwait from Riyadh and began a meeting with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan and Gulf Arab states.

Many Arab countries, including heavyweight Saudi Arabia, fear the plan announced by President Bush to stabilize Iraq would lead to an early departure of U.S. troops from Iraq, leaving the violence-ravaged country moving toward civil war that might spill beyond Iraq's borders.

"We agree fully with the goals set by the new strategy, which in our view are the goals that - if implemented - would solve the problems that face Iraq," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told a joint news conference in Riyadh.

But he said the Iraqi government needed to play its part.

"(The government) must stop the resistance, bring everyone into the political process and realize the hopes of the people," he said, adding Shi'ite militias must be disbanded and the U.S.-backed constitution, seen as pro-Shi'ite, revised.

"(The government) must deal with the issue of militias.

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"Implementation (of U.S. strategy) requires a positive response by the Iraqis themselves to these goals . . . Other countries can help, but the main responsibility in taking decisions rests on the Iraqis," he said.

The U.S. administration has been urging Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries to play a greater role in backing Iraq.

In Kuwait, Rice was meeting the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan and the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council - Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates - to try to forge a common position on Iraq.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, fears an early U.S. troop withdrawal would solidify Shi'ite power and leave minority Sunnis at the mercy of Shi'ite militias.

Rice, who met King Abdullah on Monday night, acknowledged the Saudi concern about militias but raised the issue of Saudi debt relief for Iraq, which Washington says would be a big help.

"We will continue to work with the Iraqi government to make sure networks running dangerous militias are stopped . . . The financial issue will need to be worked out," Rice said.

"We have the same goal, which is an Iraq unified with its integrity and territory intact which doesn't face outside interference," she said.

The Saudi minister declined to say what Riyadh would do if the new U.S. strategy failed to stabilize the country, though he rejected suggestions that Saudi Arabia would use oil as a political tool to pressure Iran over its policies in the region.

Both Washington and Riyadh accuse Shi'ite power Iran of encouraging militia violence in Iraq. U.S. forces are holding five Iranians after raiding an Iranian government office in the Iraqi city of Arbil last week - the second such operation in Iraq in the past few weeks.

A Saudi official said on Monday Iran had asked Saudi Arabia to help ease tensions between the Islamic Republic and the United States, as Washington held out the possibility of "engagement" with Tehran if it changed tack in Iraq.

But an Iranian newspaper on Tuesday quoted a foreign ministry official denying a request for mediation, and both Rice and Prince Saudi also played down such talk.

"There is no need for mediation," Saud al-Faisal said, but added: "Our relations with the United States are longstanding . . . Iran is a neighbor of Saudi Arabia, so obviously we hope to avoid any conflict."

Rice said on Monday she would bring Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas together soon for informal talks on how to set up a Palestinian state.

A senior U.S. official said the meeting would be held in three to four weeks, probably in the Middle East.

Arab states are anxious for Washington to renew efforts to find a solution to the historical conflict, which they say is the underlying cause of the region's political problems.

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