ABOARD THE USS JOHN C STENNIS, May 11: US Vice-President Dick Cheney warned on Friday from the hangar deck of a US aircraft carrier in the Gulf that the United States will not let Iran get nuclear weapons.

“We'll stand with others to prevent Iran from gaining nuclear weapons and dominating this region,” he told thousands of sailors on the nuclear-powered USS John C. Stennis as it cruised roughly 240 kilometres from Iran.

Cheney, who spoke as five warplanes stood arrayed behind him, said the US naval presence in the region sent “clear messages to friends and adversaries alike.” His comments came as he visited the United Arab Emirates on a Middle East tour to ask Arab allies to step up their efforts to help war-torn Iraq and to curb Iran's growing regional influence.

He spoke ahead of the arrival of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday in the first visit by an Iranian head of state to the close US Gulf ally since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Tehran.

Cheney, who came here after a surprise two-day visit to Iraq, has refused to rule out the use of force against Iran's nuclear programmes if diplomacy fails to convince the Islamic republic to freeze sensitive activities.

Tehran denies seeking nuclear weapons. Washington says the Islamic republic is using a civilian atomic energy program as cover for seeking atomic weapons.

US President George W. Bush in January ordered a second US aircraft carrier group to the Gulf and announced the deployment of a Patriot missile defence battalion to the region to protect allies against potential strikes.

Bush also vowed that US forces would “seek out and destroy” any networks funnelling weapons or fighters from Syria or Iran into Iraq, where deadly sectarian violence has fueled the war's deep unpopularity with the US public.—AFP