Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal on Tuesday welcomed the nomination of Haidar al-Abadi as the new prime minister of Iraq to replace Nuri al-Maliki as "good news".

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal on Tuesday welcomed the nomination of Haidar al-Abadi as the new prime minister of Iraq to replace Nuri al-Maliki as "good news".

Saudi Arabia had strained ties with Maliki, whom it accused of creating conditions for a terrorist-led offensive by marginalizing Iraq's minorities.

"This is the good news I heard lately," the veteran diplomat said during a news conference in the western Saudi city of Jeddah, when asked to comment on Abadi's nomination.

Oil kingpin Saudi Arabia shares more than 800 kilometres (500 miles) of border with Iraq and has been alarmed by the 'jihadist' offensive led by ISIL (The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) militants who have captured large swathes of its neighbor.

The US urged Maliki's successor, Haidar al-Abadi, to rapidly form a broad-based government able to unite Iraqis in the fight against the Islamic State-led militants who have overrun swathes of the country.

US President Barack Obama has made a congratulatory telephone call to Iraqi prime minister-designate Haider al-Abadi.

The UN chief Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the appointment of Haidar al-Abadi as the new prime minister and urged him to form a broad-based government.