RIYADH: US President Barack Obama led a heavyweight delegation to Saudi Arabia Tuesday to meet new King Salman and discussed the two countries' ongoing fight against the Islamic State group.

The leaders also tackled the issue of Iran's nuclear programme and human rights in the conservative kingdom, a senior US official said.

Riyadh has been part of the US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against IS since last year and is a long-time regional ally of Washington.

But analysts say Riyadh has grown dissatisfied with what it sees as a lack of American engagement in crises elsewhere, including Yemen and Libya, as the US looks to Asia.

There has also been unease in the kingdom about Obama's pursuit of a nuclear deal with Shiite-dominated Iran, the regional rival of Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia.

Members of the 29-member bipartisan US delegation, which included former Bush-era officials, said they wanted to show support for the US-Saudi relationship.

“I believe it is important that we demonstrate to the Saudis the importance that they represent to us,” said James Baker, secretary of state during the first Gulf War against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussain.