In this photo released by the Saudi News Agency, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud of Saudi Arabia, right meets with US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, third right after his arrival in Riyadh Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2007. [AP]

MANAMA, Bahrain - The Iranians are "overplaying their hand" on the world stage in a belief that setbacks in Iraq have weakened the United States, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday.

Related readings:  Gates: Iran sees US as bogged down

He said that now is not the time to negotiate with Iran because the US lacks leverage but that talks probably would make sense at some point.

The US has been applying growing pressure on Iran, blaming Tehran for providing bombs and other help used against American troops by militants in Iraq. President Bush has warned the US will "seek out and destroy" the networks providing that help.

In addition, American raids inside Iraq have netted Iranian prisoners, and the US is sending a second aircraft carrier and missiles to the region.

The bipartisan Iraq Study Group recommended including Iran in regional talks on ending the violence in Iraq, a path the Bush administration has so far declined to take.

Gates said he had told the leaders of US allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar that the Iranians "believe they have the United States at some disadvantage because of the situation in Iraq."

"To be precise, I told them both that I thought the Iranians were overplaying their hand and that one of the consequences of that is that they have raised real concerns on the part of a number of countries in the region and beyond about their intentions," he told reporters.

Many Gulf nations are worried about a rising Iranian influence - a concern made more acute by the prospect for a further slide toward civil war in Iraq.

With regard to US failure thus far to achieve stability in Iraq, Gates said, "I think that our difficulties have given them (the Iranians) a tactical opportunity in the short term, but the United States is a very powerful country."

Asked about the prospects for military conflict with Iran, whose nuclear program is seen by the Bush administration as a growing threat to US interests, Gates said, "There are many courses of action available that do not involve an open conflict with Iran - there's no need for that."

Gates said that although he had publicly advocated negotiating with Iran as recently as 2004, he now advises against that.

"Right at this moment, there's really nothing the Iranians want from us," he said. "And so, in any negotiation right now we would be the supplicant," asking Iran to stop doing such things as enriching uranium for its nuclear program.

"We need some leverage, it seems to me, before we engage with the Iranians," Gates added. "And I think at some point engagement probably makes sense."

Until the Iranians are persuaded that, despite being bogged down in Iraq, "the United States is in fact a formidable adversary, there's not much advantage for us in engaging with them," he said.

That assessment may explain, at least in part, the decision announced last week to send a second US aircraft carrier into the Persian Gulf region, along with a Patriot missile battalion capable of shooting down shorter-range ballistic missiles of the type Iran has in its arsenal.

In Bahrain, a British Royal Navy officer who is the No. 2 commander for coalition naval forces in the Central Command area of responsibility told reporters that the exact role and missions of the aircraft carrier USS John Stennis, which is due to arrive in the Gulf area next month, have not yet been worked out.

British Commodore Keith Winstanley said the Stennis deployment should not be seen entirely as a move aimed at Iran, but he added, "I'm sure there's a message there for Iran."

He said Iranian naval operations have not changed in any significant way since Bush announced the extra carrier deployment, and Winstanley said at-sea contacts with the Iranian navy have been "extremely cordial."

On his second overseas trip since replacing Donald H. Rumsfeld as Pentagon chief, Gates visited the headquarters of Central Command's naval staff, which is located here with the US Navy's 5th Fleet. Then he flew to Qatar for a meeting with that tiny Gulf state's top leader, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.

Afterward, he visited an air base from which Central Command's air staff plans, runs and monitors air operations throughout the Middle East and Central Asia. Under ground rules imposed by US officials, reporters traveling with Gates were prohibited from identifying the base or the country in which it is located.

Gates also met with Gen. John Abizaid, the head of Central Command, whose forward headquarters is in Qatar. Abizaid is due to retire in March; Adm. William Fallon has been nominated to replace him.