A leading Saudi newspaper on Saturday ruled out any attempt by the United States to use the oil-rich Gulf kingdom as a launchpad for a possible war on Iran over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.

Two days before a visit to Saudi Arabia by US President George W. Bush, the pro-government daily Al-Riyadh said: "We refuse to be used to launch wars or tensions with Iran.

"This issue can be solved through diplomatic means and through dialogue," said the paper which reflects the views of the Saudi authorities.

Bush on Friday began a four-nation Gulf tour as part of a Middle East trip to push for a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians and rally the support of his allies in the Sunni Muslim oil monarchies against the "threat" he says is posed by Shiite Muslim Iran.

In Israel on Wednesday Bush warned that Iran posed "a threat to world peace" and should not be allowed to develop the know-how to build a nuclear weapon. Iran denies seeking to acquire nuclear arms.

"If the president wants to obtain the solidarity of all the Arabs… he must focus, rationally, on the most important issue which is the question of peace," Al-Riyadh said.

The daily urged Bush "not to preoccupy himself with a danger which US intelligence has qualified as non-existent in the short term."

A recent US intelligence report said that Iran — which has repeatedly said that its nuclear progamme is civilian — halted a nuclear weapons programme in 2003.

"Iran's supposed danger does not minimise the real danger of Israel, which is among 10 countries in the world to have nuclear weapons," the Saudi paper said.

Bush is welcome "as a man of peace, not a man of war," it added.

Tensions between Tehran and Washington escalated on the eve of Bush's tour over a naval confrontation in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, with the Pentagon saying US warships were threatened by Iranian speedboats.

related report

US discloses two other incidents involving Iran speedboats

Iranian speedboats approached US naval vessels in two previously undislosed incidents in the Strait of Hormuz in December, including one in which a US warship fired warning shots, a Pentagon official said Friday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a third incident January 6 that sparked US protests was the most serious in the series even though no shots were fired.

The USS Whidbey Island, an amphibious warship, fired warning shots December 19 when it was approached by a single Iranian speedboat as it transited the Strait of Hormuz, the official said.

He said the Iranian boat stopped when the shots were fired.

The second incident involved the USS Carr, a guided missile frigate, that "came in very close contact with three small boats" as it transited the Strait on its way into the Gulf, the official said.

The Iranian boats came within 500 meters of the Carr, which blew its ship whistles to warn them off, he said.

The official said the next encounter on January 6 was the most serious, involving five Iranian speedboats that came within 500 meters of three US warships, ignoring warnings to stay clear.

Pentagon officials have charged that two speedboats were seen dumping box-like objects into the path of one of the vessels, and that a radioed threat was received on the bridge of one of the warships during the incident.

Iran has denied that its vessels made the threat, and Pentagon officials now acknowledge they do not know the origin of the radio broadcast in which a voice is heard to say in accented English: "I am coming to you … You will explode in a few minutes."