AMMAN: Bush's visit to the Middle East next week will focus too much on Iran to the detriment of providing a much needed shot in the arm for regional peace, Arab commentators say.

From Amman to Cairo, Arabs have expressed a strong belief that Bush will fail to achieve any progress during the eight-day visit, despite a high-profile US conference in November to revive Middle East peace talks.

Many are concerned that efforts to solve the decades-long Arab-Israeli conflict will be overshadowed by Washington's attempts to forge a regional front against Iran that could pave the way for a possible US strike on the Islamic republic.

"Expectations that Bush's visit might succeed in achieving a breakthrough in the Middle East peace process are not high at all," Jordanian political analyst Fahd Kheitan said.

Mohammed Al Masri of the University of Jordan's Centre for Strategic Studies believes Bush will do "nothing more than push for improving the conditions of the Palestinians."

Bush is certainly not seeking "a final agreement or peace treaty" between Israel and the Palestinians, despite November's high-profile conference in Annapolis to revive Middle East peace talks, he said.

The US president said in his weekly radio address on Saturday that he "will discuss the importance of countering the aggressive ambitions of Iran" and assure allies that "America will stay engaged in the region."

Bush telephoned Jordan's King Abdullah on Friday to discuss the visit, a day after the Jordanian monarch warned in talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that stalling peace "threatens the region's future and stability."

Bush has the responsibility to move the peace process forward after he held the November Annapolis talks, the Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said.