The newspaper said the effort also reflects the administration's planning for a day when Iran becomes a nuclear state and, officials fear, more aggressive in a region that provides vital oil exports to the world.

"Iran without nuclear arms is a threat," Robert Joseph, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, told the paper in an interview. "With nuclear weapons it would become even more emboldened, in terms of moving forward with its aggressive designs,"

A senior State Department official said the Gulf countries "as a whole are very receptive to the message," the report said.

Joseph rolled out the proposal during a trip last month to the six gulf states of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman, The Times said.

John Hillen, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, led a top-level US delegation to the Gulf last week for further discussions.

Hillen said in an interview that the initiative "is really the first time in a while" the United States had been actively involved in trying to reshape a regional security system.

The effort "could put pressure on Iran to behave responsibly," the paper quotes him as saying.

US officials want to help boost the Gulf states' ability to monitor and control cargo on the high seas, and goods that are trans-shipped from busy Gulf ports, The Times said.

They want to help improve the countries' abilities to detect "front" companies for Iran and to identify and halt transactions to finance Iran's purchase of goods for its unconventional weapons programs, according to the report.

The Bush administration is also eager to see wider use of sophisticated defenses against aircraft and missiles, the paper said.

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have Patriot antimissile batteries, but US officials say other countries need them as well, especially in light of Iran's advanced ballistic missile program, the report said.

Some analysts suggested that the United States would try to integrate missile defense systems with real-time intelligence using sophisticated US Navy Aegis cruisers.

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