Saudi Arabia believes more sanctions and military threats will not stop Iran's nuclear programme and wants Washington to put more effort into negotiations, including an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, experts and Saudi officials said on Tuesday.

After talks with US counterpart Hillary Clinton on Monday, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal criticised Washington's push for more economic and political sanctions on Iran over its suspected nuclear weapons drive as too slow to work.

"Sanctions are a long-term solution," Saud said. "We see the issue in the shorter term because we are closer to the threat … We need an immediate resolution."

While some took Saud's comments as a veiled endorsement of an attack by US or Israeli forces on Iran's nuclear facilities, officials and analysts said that was not the case.

Instead, they said Riyadh wants a diplomatic solution to the problem which it believes can come sooner than sanctions would force.

It also sees a linkage to other regional problems where less dangerous action can be taken to affect Tehran's behaviour — in particular the Palestinian-Israeli dispute and in unstable Yemen.

But Riyadh is frustrated that the US administration doesn't see the linkage, according to a Saudi foreign policy expert.

"There is no point in our spending all our time on sanctions which will not have an effect in the short term. We need something more tangible," a Saudi foreign policy official told AFP Tuesday.

"A military strike, we still believe, will be very counter-productive," he said, asking not to be identified.

"We need to do something on Israel and the Palestinians … For instance, the US could get Israel to halt (Jewish) settlements" on the occupied West Bank, the official said.

Anwar Eshki, a Saudi lawyer and security analyst, said "Saudi Arabia knows that sanctions are not working, and that they contribute to pushing moderate Iranians away from the opposition and toward those in power.

"Saudi Arabia does not want a military solution and the immediate solution Prince Saud called for is a diplomatic one. It is the solution proposed by the Turkish foreign minister who is right now in Tehran."

It is not only the Saudis who believe the US policy Iran is too focused on sanctions and a threat of military action.

In Doha on Saturday, both Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged further efforts at a diplomatic solution.

"The region already has seen much turbulence, and a problem with Iran is too heavy to deal with," Sheikh Hamad said.

Riyadh has no solution of its own toward arch-rival Tehran's suspected efforts to develop nuclear weapons, the Saudi official conceded.

Nor did it particularly differ with Washington on its interpretation of the course of the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Saudi Arabia, the center of Sunni Islam, and Iran, predominantly Shiite, are deep in a cold war over regional and religious influence.

Both Riyadh and Washington see Tehran's hand behind many of the militant movements of the region like Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as regimes less than friendly to Riyadh, like Iraq and Syria.

Indeed, Saud said he was inclined to believe Clinton's earlier warning in Qatar that Tehran was on course to become a "military dictatorship" under the country's Revolutionary Guards.

"I hope that this doesn't lead to what it gives an indication of — which is a very extremist policy," the prince said.

But the Saudis believe sanctions on Iran have gotten nowhere in blocking its progress toward developing nuclear weapons materials and technology.

Riyadh also sees that success on other fronts like the peace process might trim back Iran's ability to stir trouble and even mitigate its reasons to produce a nuclear weapon, according to diplomats.

Saud's remarks also reflect a deep disappointment in the Obama administration's efforts to prod Israel into peace negotiations, according to analysts.

"There is a credibility issue with the US administration on promises it cannot fulfill," the Saudi official said.

That credibility gap extends now to the course of US policy towards Iran, he added.

But the weaknesses of the Saudi position are evident, too, say diplomats and analysts. They lack their own proposals on responding to Iran, and their peace process efforts have also often been reactive and not sustained.

Jamal Khashoggi, editor in chief of Watan newspaper, put some blame on the Arab countries not forcing rival Palestinian factions to join hands to advance towards a deal with Israel.

"It is for us to fix the Palestinian problem. We have the power but we must use it.

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