Cohen is in the Gulf seeking support from Arab allies for a response to Iraq's announced refusal to cooperate with UN weapons inspectors. He arrived in Kuwait as part of his exercise today.

But a Saudi official in Riyadh, insisting on anonymity, gave a different account of Cohen's meeting with King Fahd. ``King Fahd told Cohen that Saudi Arabia doesn't approve using its territories as a springboard for attacks on Iraq if Washington decided to attack Iraq,'' the Saudi official said yesterday.

Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon told the Associated Press in a call from Riyadh that Cohen had ``warm, productive meetings'' with the King and Crown Prince. He said that Fahd had pledged to support US efforts to preserve regional security and stability.''

The conflicting accounts of Cohen's meetings with King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdallah are notunusual.

The kingdom has an ambivalent relationship with Washington. Saudi Arabia, a key player in the US-led coalition that ousted Iraqi forces from Kuwait in 1991, counts on the US to safeguard its oil wealth. But it also keeps lines open to a wide range of Arab governments and is hesitant to be seen as too close to the US.

Outside the Defence Secretary efforts, Vice-President Al Gore and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright made separate telephone calls yesterday to Abdallah. Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering was aboard, a signal that the Clinton administration was not abandoning diplomacy.

Meanwhile, at the United Nations, the 15-member Security Council began debate yesterday on a resolution that would condemn Iraq's decision and demand that Baghdad rescind it. However, the five permanent members, which have the power to veto any resolution, are divided over what to do if Iraq refuses to cooperate with the inspectors.

``We are reasonably confident that all Security Council members agree onthe importance of sending a strong message to Iraq in opposition to its confrontational tactics,'' said US state department spokesman James Rubin.

Meanwhile, President Bill Clinton called British Prime Minister Tony Blair to discuss Iraq. In a 10-minute conversation they agreed on ``the gravity in the current state of affairs'' according to White House spokesman P J Crowley.

While the United States and Britain have threatened to use force, China and Russia have reacted to the situation saying that a diplomatic solution was called for.