GENEVA -- The Obama administration's push to engage countries like Russia, Iran and Syria is generating broad support in Europe and the Middle East. But smaller U.S. allies are cautioning Washington not to pursue this diplomatic track at their expense.

Some Arab states and Israel fear U.S. diplomacy runs the risk of empowering Iran across their region. Baltic countries and former Warsaw Pact nations, meanwhile, still seek the West's protection in the face of disputes with Russia over territory and energy supplies.

Hillary Clinton on Friday met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, left, seeking to repair frayed relations between the countries and cooperate on Iran, nuclear treaties and other issues.

"There are risks involved in this diplomatic strategy even while there's international support," said a Middle Eastern diplomat closely involved in the U.S.'s Iranian strategy. "It can't be seen as a sign of weakness, or as accepting Iran's nuclear program."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Friday in Geneva with her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, and the two diplomats sought to put to rest the acrimony generated last fall by Moscow's military incursion into Georgia. Senior U.S. diplomats also are in Damascus this weekend to seek rapprochement with Syria.

U.S. officials said that Mrs. Clinton pushed Mr. Lavrov not to move ahead with the sale of S-300 missile systems to Iran. President Barack Obama has told Moscow the U.S. might alter its plans for a missile-defense system in Europe, if it gets greater cooperation from Russia on Iran. Mr. Lavrov was noncommittal at a press conference. "We have not violated anything," he said in reference to Russia's military assistance to Tehran.

But U.S. and Russian officials said they agreed to a road map to quickly resume disarmament talks on revamping the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which regulates the number of long-range nuclear weapons Washington and Moscow can possess. The treaty expires this December. Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Lavrov also agreed to regularly consult on broader strategic issues, such as U.S. missile-defense plans, North Korean and Iranian nuclear programs, and efforts to stabilize Afghanistan.

"Our agenda tonight was broad, but it's just the beginning," Mrs. Clinton said Friday following her meeting with Mr. Lavrov. "We believe this is a fresh start." The U.S. and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies had agreed Thursday to restore ministerial contacts with Moscow that had been frozen since the Georgia war.

Mrs. Clinton's overtures during her week-long tour of the Middle East and Europe have received a warm reception from diplomats and newspaper columnists in those regions. Many Arab and European governments sparred with former U.S. President George W. Bush over the Iraq war and issues like climate change.

"Obama has given new hope to the world," European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering gushed after meeting Mrs. Clinton in Brussels on Friday. Still, the administration's softer approach toward Moscow has caused some uneasiness among loyal Washington allies in the former Soviet Union and former Soviet bloc.

Lithuania opposed the decision to restart a NATO-Russia Council. Although leaders of the three ex-Soviet republics in the Baltics said little publicly, Baltic concerns over Russian assertiveness are particularly strong.

"I think there is a general frustration that NATO and the West as a whole has not managed to convey in any meaningful way the message that what Russia did in Georgia was unacceptable," says Kadri Liik, director of the International Center for Defense Studies in Estonia. "The NATO-Russia talks were unfrozen without making any conditions on Russia at all."

Estonia was the subject of a cyber war and other punitive measures from Russia in 2007. Lithuania had the oil supply to its refinery cut in 2006, allegedly due to a pipeline fault, and it has never been turned back on.

Analysts and politicians across the region say they're happy the U.S. is re-engaging Russia on the Start treaty, but some strategists fear Washington might abandon support for bringing Ukraine and Georgia into NATO, though the Obama administration's hasn't given any signals to that effect. "Ukraine is not going to join NATO any time soon, but to postpone this program for some distant point in the future would be a real worry," said Janusz Onyszkiewicz, a former Polish defense minister.

In the Middle East, Israel sought assurances from Mrs. Clinton that Washington's overtures toward Tehran don't undercut its own interests. Unease toward Iran is shared by many Sunni Arab leaders, who fear a grand bargain over the Iranian nuclear program could see Washington recognizing Tehran's growing influence in places like Lebanon and Iraq.

Nonetheless, any move by the U.S. and Israel to carry out military strikes against Iran's nuclear assets would likely be unpopular in Arab countries.

Lebanon faces parliamentary elections in June in which pro-Western and pro-Iranian parties will face off. Those Lebanese who have struggled against Syrian influence are cautious about any Washington-Damascus rapprochement that may come at their expense. "There is a lot of ambivalence in Lebanon," said Oussama Safa, director of the Lebanese Center for Policy.