Syria is wild card as Iran and U.S. jockey for sway

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran and the United States are playing a complicated diplomatic game, jockeying for influence in Iraq as violence there spirals out of control, but there is one major wild-card in dueling summits planned for coming days: Syria.
Vice President Dick Cheney was heading to Saudi Arabia for key talks with King Abdullah today, apparently looking for its influence and tribal connections help to calm Iraq.
President Bush is due to meet Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Jordan on Wednesday and Thursday, an unusual succession of trips that reflects U.S. determination to rally allies at a time when Washington is considering overhauling its Iraq policy.
But an especially violent week in Iraq threatened to overshadow the planned Bush-Maliki meeting.
Iran, meanwhile, was having its own diplomatic troubles.
It has been trying to organize a summit today joining its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the presidents of Iraq and Syria, in a bid to assert its role as the top regional powerbroker.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani agreed to attend.
But on Friday, he had to postpone his trip until Baghdad's airport -- closed in a security clampdown after the violence -- reopens, no sooner than Sunday.
"The Tehran visit is still on," he said.
"The airport will be closed tomorrow but if it opens after tomorrow we will go."
It also appeared unlikely on Friday that Syria's Bashar Assad would participate at all.
A top official at Iran's presidency on Friday said Syria has not responded to Iran's invitation and that "there is no plan for Assad visit to Tehran at least for the next 24 hours."
He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.