Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have signaled a "willingness" to press China to support tough new sanctions on Iran, United States Defense Secretary Robert Gates said here Thursday.
"I have the sense that there's a willingness" by the Saudis and UAE leaders to use their leverage as oil-rich states to persuade China to endorse fresh sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program, Gates told in reporters in Abu Dhabi after two days talks in the Gulf.
Gates flew to Abu Dhabi earlier on Thursday seeking support from oil-rich Gulf allies for tough sanctions on Tehran, drawing an angry response from Iran's president.
US is "mistaken"
Gates held talks with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan, who is also the deputy commander in chief of the armed forces in the United Arab Emirates, as part of high-stakes diplomacy designed to tighten pressure on Iran over its nuclear program.
The American focus on the Gulf prompted a warning earlier on Thursday from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who accused "corrupt" powers of destabilizing the Gulf.
"What are you doing in our region?" Ahmadinejad said in a speech in the Gulf port of Bandar Abbas.
"Why have you sent your armies to our area? If you think you can control the oil of Iraq and the Persian Gulf, you are mistaken," he said.
The defense secretary's visit to the UAE came a day after Gates appealed to Saudi leaders to back the U.S.-led drive for punitive measures in discussions in Riyadh, the latest in a series of high level visits to the region by President Barack Obama's deputies.
The Iranian president has traded barbs with Gates this week, as Ahmadinejad's visit to Afghanistan overlapped with the U.S. defense secretary's trip there.
In an earlier stop at a U.S. military base in Southwest Asia en route to Abu Dhabi, Gates expressed amusement about how he and the Iranian president had "exchanged a few words through the media" this week over Afghanistan.
Washington's lobbying of Gulf states
Why have you sent your armies to our area? If you think you can control the oil of Iraq and the Persian Gulf, you are mistaken
Before his meeting with the crown prince, Gates toured the vast Sheikh Zayed mosque in Abu Dhabi, named after the founder of the UAE, and told reporters the United States and the UAE had been "close partners" for years.
With Washington striving to disrupt funding of Iran's nuclear work, Gates planned to discuss with UAE leaders how "to increase pressure" on companies doing business in Dubai with links to Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, a US defense official told reporters.
The UAE has a large Iranian expatriate community and is a major conduit for Tehran's trade with the outside world.
Gates' visit also highlighted Washington's lobbying of Gulf states to use their oil resources to sway China, which has been reluctant to back sanctions at the U.N. Security Council.
The role of the Gulf states is pivotal for the U.S. diplomatic strategy, as they can exert genuine economic pressure on Iran while also ensuring a smooth flow of global oil supplies in the case of a possible cutoff of Iranian oil exports.
On Wednesday, Gates told the Saudis that after Iran had "largely rebuffed" U.S. overtures for a conciliatory dialogue, the Obama administration was now focused on ramping up pressure on Tehran, the defense official said.
But Gates stressed in his talks that the United States wanted to see financial sanctions targeted on Tehran's Revolutionary Guard and not the country's population.
Gates also was expected to discuss a broader U.S. effort to boost air and missile defenses in the Gulf in the face of Iran's growing arsenal of ballistic missiles, a serious concern for Abu Dhabi.
The United States has promised to speed up weapons sales to the UAE and other Gulf states, which have bought billions of dollars worth of American weapons in recent years.
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