Gates: Sanctions right to keep 'military dictatorship' of Iran from going nuclear

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday that Iran was moving "in the direction of a military dictatorship," and maintained that all options would still be on the table to keep the Islamic Republic from going nuclear.

Gates was asked on "Fox News Sunday" about whether the latest round of United Nations sanctions and the new sanctions announced last week by the Treasury Department would weaken Tehran's will to develop its nuclear program.

"What we've seen is a change in the nature of the regime in Tehran over the past 18 months or so," Gates said. "You have a much narrower based government in Tehran now. Many of the religious figures are being set aside. As Secretary Clinton has said, they appear to be moving more in the direction of a military dictatorship. Khamenei is leaning on a smaller and smaller group of advisors.

"In the meantime, you have an illegitimate election that has divided the country. So I think adding economic pressures on top of that, and particularly targeted economic pressures, has real potential."

The Defense secretary said that assisting allies in the region, sanctions, diplomatic pressure and "a variety of other things that are going on" would stand "a reasonable chance of getting the Iranian regime finally to come to their senses."

Gates said the U.S. does not accept a nuclear Iran and would "obviously leave all options on the table" to prevent that.

"I don't think we're prepared to even talk about containing a nuclear Iran ... our policies and our efforts are all aimed at preventing that from happening."