Manama, Bahrain ? Defense Secretary Robert Gates planned to tell Gulf countries today they must work together to help the U.S. counter Iranian threats, including Tehran’s ballistic missiles and meddling in Iraq.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States still wants new sanctions.

Gates, ending a weeklong trip to the region, intended in his keynote speech at an international security conference in Manama to urge Gulf allies to cooperate more as part of a broader strategy for containing Iranian influence, according to U.S. officials traveling with Gates on Friday.

Gates’ speech was to follow Rice’s assertions Friday in Brussels, Belgium, that Washington would continue along a two-track strategy, pressing for new sanctions against Iran while holding talks to persuade Tehran to come clean about its nuclear program.

But Russia ignored her calls to punish Iran.

Despite continued strong support from NATO allies in the wake of a new U.S. intelligence report that concludes Iran actually stopped developing atomic weapons in 2003, Rice could not convince Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of the urgency of fresh sanctions.

Rice said her talks with Lavrov were “an extension of other conversations we have had,” suggesting the two didn’t see eye to eye.

White House officials maintained an optimistic tone. Based on contacts with Russia, China and other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council since the release Monday of the new intelligence estimate on Iran, “we are still committed to Iran stopping its enrichment,” said National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe. “And we will eventually get a third U.N. Security Council resolution.”

Bush spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday and Chinese President Hu Jintao on Thursday.

Vice President Dick Cheney, speaking in Kansas City to members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said, “In the case of Iran, we’re dealing with a country that is still enriching uranium and remains a leading state sponsor of terrorism, and that is a cause of great concern to the United States.”

Cheney said others in the international community, including Russia, share that concern.

At the Pentagon, senior military officers told reporters the U.S. intelligence revelation that it believes Iran scrapped its nuclear weapons design effort in 2003 has not triggered new instructions by the Bush administration to speed up or slow down any Iran crisis planning.