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Any new UN Security Council resolution on weapons inspections in Iraq is "unjustified," Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said on Tuesday in an exclusive interview with Xinhua in Cairo.
Naji Sabri, here for a visit, was responding to a question about the push by the United States and Britain for a new United Nations Security Council resolution to keep pressure on Iraq.
"US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are attempting to complicate the matter of UN weapons inspections on Iraq," Sabri told Xinhua after meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
"The international community, including some UN Security Council permanent members, believe that there is no need to adopt a new resolution on Iraq," Sabri said.
"Iraq has been working with other Arab countries in trying to avoid confrontation with the United States, but the United States is treading a reverse path," the foreign minister said.
"Iraq's stance is flexible, but the United States and Britain are attempting to complicate the situation and eventually impose a war on Iraq and its people," he said.
Iraq agreed on Sept. 16 to the unconditional return of UN arms inspectors, a move widely welcomed by the international community.
However, the United States and Britain remain skeptical about Iraq's offer to allow international arms inspectors back to Baghdad to resume their work. The two countries have repeatedly accused Iraq of developing weapons of mass destruction and supporting terrorism.
Dismissing the Iraqi offer as "a tactic that will fail," the United States said it would press for the adoption of a new UN resolution on Iraq containing tough terms. It has even threatened to use all means to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Sabri arrived here on Monday evening to deliver a message from President Saddam Hussein to Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak on "recent developments" in the region.
In response to British claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, Sabri said Britain was lying and Iraq had become used to such accusations.
A 55-page document released on Tuesday by Britain said Iraq was only one to two years away from producing nuclear weapons, and had tried to acquire from Africa the material and technology for the production of nuclear weapons.
(China Daily September 25, 2002)
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