Gulf Arab states challenged US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on US policies towards Iran and Israel at the weekend, after he urged them to force Tehran to stop enriching uranium.
Several delegates at a regional security conference in Bahrain accused the US of hypocrisy for supporting Israeli nuclear weapons and questioned Washington's refusal to meet Iranian representatives to discuss the Islamic republic's nuclear activities.
"Not considering Israel a threat to security in the region is considered a biased policy that is based on a double standard," said Gulf Co-operation Council secretary-general Abdul-Rahman al-Attiyah.
Mr Gates strove to portray Iran's nuclear programme as a danger to its neighbours, despite a new US intelligence report admitting last week that Tehran halted atomic weapons development in 2003 and has not resumed it since.
His speech was quickly challenged by Bahraini Labour Minister Majeed al-Alawi, who wanted to know whether Mr Gates thought that "the zionist nuclear weapon is a threat to the region."
Mr Gates paused, before answering: "No, I do not."
Asked if US acceptance of that showed double standards in the light of Washington's pressure on Tehran, Mr Gates again replied: "No," before claiming that Israel's government was more responsible than that of Iran.
"I think Israel is not training terrorists to subvert its neighbours," he said.
"It has not shipped weapons into a place like Iraq to kill thousands of innocent civilians covertly."
But Qatari Prime Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassem Al Thani retorted: "We can't really compare Iran with Israel," noting that "Israel, through 50 years, has taken land, kicking out the Palestinians, and interferes under the excuse of security, blaming the other party."
The US and many of its allies have passed two rounds of United Nations Security Council sanctions against Tehran, alleging that it is enriching uranium to secretly build nuclear arms.
Iran insists that its programme is for purely peaceful purposes.
Sheikh Hamad also called on the US to hold direct talks with Iran over its nuclear activities.
After major Arab countries recently attended the Israeli-Palestinian peace conference in Annapolis, the US should show the same initiative with Iran, he said.
The US refuses to hold direct talks with the Iran until it suspends uranium enrichment, which can produce fuel for a nuclear reactor or fissile material for a bomb.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Saturday that Tehran had sent a formal protest note to Washington for 'spying" on Iran's nuclear activities.
He said that the US report indicated that US intelligence agencies had based their findings on 'satellite and espionage activities."
