'There's evidence that Hamas is supported by Iran and Syria, and that they're doing everything they can to torpedo the peace process,' Mr Cheney told reporters in Jerusalem before heading to Turkey after two days of talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Mr Cheney said the United States is concerned about the extent to which arms are being smuggled across the Egyptian border into Gaza, where they are being used by Hamas to attack Israel.

'It's a continuing problem' that has 'resulted in the ongoing activity of launching rockets into Israel and threatening the lives of Israelis,' he said.

Mr Cheney, a strong supporter of Israel, spoke with reporters after having breakfast with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the last in a series of meetings to talk about regional issues and nudge Israeli and Palestinian leaders to reach a peace agreement before US President George W. Bush leaves office in January 2009. He said Mr Olmert told him he would do everything he could to try to achieve an agreement this year.

Mr Cheney had travelled to Ramallah on Sunday to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose moderate party controls the West Bank. He said they talked about negotiations under way in Yemen to encourage reconciliation between Abbas' moderate Fatah Party and Hamas, which the US considers a terrorist organisation.

Mr Cheney said he understood the Palestinian leadership had set 'preconditions' for agreeing to reconciliation, 'including a complete reversal of the Hamas takeover of Gaza.'

The US has made clear it will not support working with Hamas unless the group changes its position toward Israel. Meanwhile, an Israeli official said Israel would halt peace talks with Mr Abbas if he should reconcile with Hamas.

Iran also figured prominently in Mr Cheney's discussions with foreign leaders in Iraq, Oman, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Turkey.

The United States says Iran and Syria are working to foment trouble in the region by resupplying Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon with a significant inventory of weapons since the summer of 2006, and the weapons have become increasingly sophisticated in terms of range and accuracy. In the US view, Iran and Syria in particular are operating to deny the Lebanese the opportunity to govern themselves.

Mr Cheney did not make public new evidence to document the US claims.

Concern about Iran's nuclear programme
In Ankara on Monday, Mr Cheney also said he was concerned about Iran's nuclear programme during a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to Turkey's state-run Anatolia news agency.

Mr Erdogan said Iran should work with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to ease international fears that the programme is designed for making nuclear weapons, Anatolia reported, without citing a source.

Iran says its nuclear programme is for the peaceful purpose of generating electricity, and has refused to suspend enrichment, despite a third round of sanctions recently imposed by the UN Security Council.

Mr Cheney and Mr Erdogan also discussed Afghanistan, energy security and Turkey's recent eight-day ground incursion into northern Iraq.

The US shares intelligence with Turkey, its Nato ally, in its fight against the Kurdish rebels, who use bases in semiautonomous northern Iraq to launch attacks against Turkey in their drive for autonomy in Turkey's southeast.

Both Turkey and the US label the Kurdish rebel group, know as the PKK, a terrorist organisation.

But the US must balance its support for Turkey's action against its allegiance to Iraq. During the incursion, which ended Feb 29, Mr Bush asked the Turks to 'move quickly, achieve their objective and get out' of Iraq.

Mr Cheney also met in Ankara with Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Yasar Buyukanit, chief of the military. The meetings were closed to the media, and no announcements were made afterward.

About 50 protesters chanted anti-US slogans near Turkey's presidential palace during Mr Cheney's meeting with Gul. The demonstrators shouted 'Down with America,' burned an effigy of Mr Cheney, and carried banners that read 'We don't want to send our soldiers to Afghanistan,' and 'Murderer Cheney.'

In Istanbul, where Mr Cheney went later on Monday, protesters held banners that read 'Cheney leave our country,' and 'Yankee Go Home!' Turkey reaffirmed its commitment to Afghanistan, but has refused to send significant numbers of combat troops to the country's violent south. The Turkish leaders offered no new commitments on Monday, a US official said. -- AP