Gates Sees Gulf Support For Iran Sanctions Push

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says Gulf states seem ready to push China to support fresh UN sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. 

Gates was in the United Arab Emirates to push for stronger action against Iran for its failure to halt enriching uranium.   A day earlier Gates held talks in Riyadh.

He said leaders in both Saudi Arabia and UAE welcomed U.S. efforts to craft sanctions that focused on Iran's leadership and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps "and trying to shield the Iranian people as much as we could".

As Gates toured the Gulf, Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad  warned that Washington was seeking to dominate the region's energy resources in the name of fighting terrorism.

In Geneva, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the UN Security Council was working to draft economic sanctions that would restrict Iranian banks abroad and insurance of shipments to and from Iran.

compiled from agency reports