Speaking to reporters after meeting with Mexican leaders on Tuesday, Gates said heightening US critics of Iran and its support for terrorist groups is not a signal that the administration is laying the ground work for a strike against Tehran.

Still, he said Iran continues to back the Taliban in Afghanistan.

"I do not have a sense a this point of a significant increase in Iranian support for the Taliban and others opposing the government in Afghanistan," Gates said. "There is, a best I can tell, a continuing flow, but I would till characterise it as relatively modest."

His comments contrasted with those from Adm Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who said last week that he had not seen an new signs of Iranian support for the Taliban.

Gates played down the addition of a second carrier to the Gulf, saying that the number of ships there rises and falls continuously. He said he does not expect there to be two carriers there for a long time.

Asked if the carrier move went hand in hand with the rising US rhetoric against Iran, Gates said, "I don't see it as an escalation I think it could be seen, though, as a reminder."

Source: DDNEWS