Last updated: 16 february, 2010 - 10:13 GMT
Clinton: Iran 'moving towards military dictatorship'
Saudi Arabia said imposing more sanctions on Iran would not be a quick enough solution.
The American secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, has said she believes Iran is becoming a military dictatorship.
Mrs Clinton, who is on a tour of Gulf states, said international sanctions should target Iran's Revolutionary Guard, which she said was in effect supplanting government control.
The BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus has more.
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Hillary Clinton is in the Gulf region trying to drum up support for tougher sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme.
However, at a joint news conference, her Saudi counterpart, Prince Saud al Faisal said the threat posed by Iran actually demanded a "more immediate solution" than sanctions.
Thomas Lippman, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, explains.
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First broadcast 15 February 2010
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