U.S. President Joe Biden held a swift series of meetings with the leaders of Iraq, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates as he sought to forge regional missile and defence capabilities at a wider Arab summit in Saudi Arabia.

Biden, who began his first trip to the Middle East as president with a visit to Israel, is seeking to use the gathering in Jeddah to integrate Israel as part of a new axis largely driven by shared concerns over Iran.

"We believe there's great value in including as many of the capabilities in this region as possible and certainly Israel has significant air and missile defence capabilities, as they need to. But we're having these discussion bilaterally with these nations," a senior administration official told reporters.

Biden has focused on the planned summit with six Gulf states and Egypt, Jordan and Iraq while downplaying his meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. That encounter drew criticism in the United States over human rights abuses.

Biden had promised to make Saudi Arabia a "pariah" on the global stage over the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents, but ultimately decided U.S. interests dictated a recalibration, not a rupture, in relations with the world's top oil exporter and Arab powerhouse.

The U.S. leader said he had raised the Khashoggi killing at the top of his meeting with the Saudi crown prince on Friday and that to be silent on the issue of human rights is "inconsistent with who we are and who I am". 

Biden needs the help of OPEC giant Saudi Arabia at a time of high crude prices and other problems related to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and as he encourages efforts to end the Yemen war, where a temporary truce is in place.