Iraq today hailed its "victory" over US and British efforts to revise the 11-year-old sanctions regime, after the UN Security Council put off a vote on proposed reforms.
"The American plot has collapsed. This collapse is a victory for the will of our Arab people," Iraq's minister of state for foreign affairs, Mr Naji Sabri al-Hadithi, told the Qatari satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera.
"It's also a victory for the will of the countries which voiced their rejection of this deceitful project, such as Jordan, Syria and Egypt," the official said.
The Security Council yesterday indefinitely postponed a vote on so-called "smart" sanctions, opening the way for Iraq to resume oil exports which were suspended a month ago.
Iraq has already been under UN sanctions ever since its August 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
The "smart sanctions" are aimed at making goods for civilian use more available while cracking down on those deemed to have a military potential.
AFP