Defence Secretary Robert Gates urged US allies in the Arab world to strengthen their military capabilities and defence cooperation with Washington as a means of pressuring Iran to back off its nuclear programme.

In an interview with Al Jazeera that was to be aired Monday, Gates said the United States still favoured diplomatic and economic approaches to the challenges posed by Iran and its nuclear programme.

But, according to a transcript of the interview, Gates

said "one of the pathways to get the Iranians to change their approach on the nuclear issue is to persuade them that moving down that path will actually jeopardise their security, not enhance it.

"So the more that our Arab friends and allies can strengthen their security capabilities, the more they can strengthen their cooperation, both with each other and with us, 1 think sends the signal to the Iranians that this path they're on is not going to advance Iranian security but in fact could weaken it," he said.