AFP, May 20, 2008 (excerpts) – US Defense Secretary Robert Gates rebuffed calls for diplomatic engagement with Iran Tuesday, saying it was an open question whether talks would be productive while President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad is in power.

Gates told lawmakers on Tuesday that he believed stepped up pressure on Tehran was the way to gain leverage.

“I think the key here is developing leverage either through economic, or diplomatic or military pressures on the Iranian government so they believe they must have talks with the United States because there is something they want from us, which is the relief from the pressure,” Gates said.

“At a time when we had overthrown the Taliban, and when we had overthrown Saddam Hussein, the Iranians were clearly very worried about what we would do next in 2003-2004,” he said.