Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said in remarks published today that the odds of war over Iraq were 50-50, and said a conflict would be a catastrophe.
Mr Mubarak made his comments to US-based publisher Energy Intelligence Group (EIG), which issued the interview in one of its newsletters, Eye on Iraq.
Asked about the chances of a war over Iraq, Mr Mubarak said: "It's 50-50."
A Reuters poll of defence experts published yesterday said Iraq's 12,000-page weapons dossier, now being scrutinised by US officials, was unlikely to dissuade the United States from invading to depose Iraqi President Saddam Hussein within the next three months.
"A war will be a catastrophe for everyone," Mr Mubarak said in the interview conducted on Monday, adding the region was a "cauldron of anger and tension".
"People must understand, this whole region can go up in flames. We have been through too many wars. Nothing good comes out of it," he said.
Mr Mubarak said he had launched a diplomatic offensive in the past two weeks on the issue, which included telephone conversations with US President George W. Bush, US politicians and the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and most Arab countries.
Mubarak has previously said a war against Iraq would trigger violence in the region and encourage "terrorist groups".
A senior adviser to the president quoted in the interview said: "There is a good chance this will not stay limited. It could become a regional war."
Mr Mubarak's advisers also said they expected a messy conflict. "If they (Iraqis) are going to die, they will resist. It is not going to be as easy as it seems to many Americans," one unnamed adviser was quoted as saying.
One top adviser also said: "Iraq is not an easy country. It is far more complicated than Afghanistan...After they finish off Saddam and his supporters, they (Iraqis) will turn against each other and the Americans."