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U.S. President Joe Biden held a swift series of meetings with the leaders of Iraq, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates on Saturday 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 discussions bilaterally with these nations," a senior administration official told reporters.