DUBAI, June 26: Several Arab countries on Sunday welcomed Iranian president-elect Mahmood Ahmadinejad despite historically chilly relations with the Islamic republic, but arch-enemy Israel branded him a danger to the world.

Ahmadinejad’s shock landslide win in a second-round run-off on Friday was seen as a blow to US plans for Middle East democracy and raised fears among some analysts of further instability in the turbulent region.

But oil-rich Arab neighbours sent warm messages to the new president despite longstanding disputes and Ahmadinejad himself said he would make improving relations with the Arab and Muslim world a priority.

Leaders from regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia, including the ailing King Fahd, were among the first to congratulate Ahmadinejad.

“The monarch highlighted the existing fraternal relations between the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Iran, and called for the consolidation of the relations,” according to the official SPA news agency.

The Kuwaiti cabinet also expressed “true hope that bilateral ties will further improve and grow stronger to achieve common interests of the two friendly nations.”

Those sentiments were echoed by the United Arab Emirates despite its longstanding dispute over three strategic Gulf islands — Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa.

“We hope for a deepening of our bilateral relations in the interest of our two countries and friendly peoples,” said UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan.

The Gulf Cooperation Council — which groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — said it hoped the new president will work towards “turning a new page” in relations with it neighbours.

But Gulf analysts warned Ahmadinejad’s election would worsen the Islamic republic’s ties with the oil-rich Gulf states.

“The victory of the new president will lead to a kind of isolation of Iran in the region,” said liberal Kuwaiti academic Ahmed al-Rubei, a former government minister and MP.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II — who once said Iran was seeking to create a Shia crescent across the region — also congratulated Ahmadinejad and called for bolstering of ties.

But an Amman-based expert on Iranian affairs said: “We must hope that the new leadership in Iran will deal with issues that worry the international community, such as the nuclear question and Iran’s influence in Iraq, through dialogue.

“The region could not bear to see a new front open up because it is already shaken by the Iraqi and Palestinian conflicts.”

Israel — which views Shia Iran as enemy number one and wants international action over its nuclear work — warned that Ahmadinejad’s victory would increase Tehran’s diplomatic isolation.

“The conclusion is that the dangerous combination of extremists, non-conventional weapons, and isolation from the West will continue and will generate a great deal of problems for the free world,” Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said.

The Israeli press warned Tehran was likely to work against the moderate Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas to try to derail any moves towards a peace settlement with Israel.

Iran said however that its policy of detente with the Arab and Muslim world would continue under the new regime.

“Great progress has already been made, and more progress will be made. We will see a development of relations with the Muslim world and countries of the region,” the president-elect said.—AFP