Iraq will quickly approve the nomination of a non-resident Saudi ambassador, meaning the kingdom will have an ambassador to Iraq for the first time since 1990, the Iraqi premier's spokesman said Tuesday.

"Iraq's response accepting this request will be quick," Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's spokesman Ali Moussawi told Agence France Presse.

Saudi King Abdullah on Monday met Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali in the kingdom, where ousted president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali is living in exile, state news agency SPA reported.

The leaders discussed means of "developing relations between both countries" and "the situation in Arab countries," said SPA of the first high-level meeting between Saudi and Tunisian officials since Ben Ali was ousted in January 2011.

A senior Saudi official on Saturday called on the Taliban to lay down their arms and renounce al-Qaida as preconditions for Saudi-mediated peace talks with the Afghan government.

"Saudi Arabia's conditions for mediation ... are that the Taliban lay down their weapons, engage in the political process and renounce al-Qaida," the official told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.

Iran said on Wednesday it was considering cutting oil sales to six EU countries but would not do so "at the moment," while unperturbed European officials said they were looking for other suppliers anyway.

State broadcaster IRIB reported on its website that the ambassadors of France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain were called to the foreign ministry in Tehran and warned that "Iran will revise its oil sale to these countries."

Bahraini police dispersed protesters who made several attempts Tuesday to mark the anniversary of last year's uprising by marching to the site of the protest that was brutally crushed, witnesses said.

Several marches took off from Shiite villages on the outskirts of Manama hoping to reach the capital's Pearl Square, where democracy demonstrators camped out for a month last year before being forcefully driven out.

Saudi Arabia will be the first country to contribute troops should a joint U.N.-Arab peacekeeping force proposed by the Arab League see light, journalistic sources in the kingdom said, following the sharp toned remarks voiced by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal during the League’s meeting on Sunday.

“The Royal Saudi Land Forces will be at the forefront of participants in the peacekeeping mission in Syria should the decision taken by the Arab foreign ministers during their meeting in Cairo yesterday be approved,” journalistic sources in Saudi Arabia told Naharnet.

Malaysia on Monday defended its deportation of a Saudi journalist wanted at home for comments deemed insulting to the Prophet Mohammed, saying it was not a "safe haven" for fugitives.

"Do not look at Malaysia as a safe transit country or a safe haven for those who are wanted by their country of origin," Malaysian Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told a news conference.

Arab and western states are to launch a new bid at the United Nations this week to put pressure on Syria's President Bashar Assad, setting off new diplomatic hostilities between Assad's friends and foes.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar have drawn up a resolution backing an Arab League plan to end the 11-month-old crackdown on protests which could be voted in the U.N. General Assembly this week.

Malaysia on Sunday deported a young Saudi journalist who is wanted in his home country over a Twitter post about the Prophet Mohammed that sparked calls for his execution, an official said.

Hamza Kashgari, who was detained in Malaysia during the week after fleeing Saudi Arabia, left the country in the custody of Saudi officials, a Malaysian government official told Agence France Presse.

Rights groups Saturday urged Malaysia not to deport a young Saudi journalist whose Twitter comments about the Prophet Mohammed triggered calls for execution in his home country.

Hamza Kashgari was arrested after arriving at Kuala Lumpur international airport on Thursday and a police spokesman said was still being quizzed.