Iraq may allow United Nations weapons inspectors return if threats of US aggression and sanctions against the country are lifted, according Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz.
Speaking ahead of a meeting tomorrow with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg he said Iraq "could consider" a return of UN weapons inspectors to his country "as part of a comprehensive settlement."
This evening Mr Aziz addressed the Summit and denounced the US, Britain, Israel and Turkey; calling for the international community to resist the US aggression and the "unjust embargo" agianst Iraq, inplemented in the wake of teh Gulf War.
Mr Aziz said another US attack would be a "catastrophe" for Iraq's environment and "certainly impede" economic development needed by its citizens.
"Since the imposition of the unjust and all-out embargo 12 years ago, the forces of aggression have dropped more than 135,000 tonnes of high explosive throughout Iraq," he said.
US use of depleted uranium ammunition had contaminated the environment, causing cancer rates to soar and triggered birth defects, he charged.
He also attacked Turkey for diverting water from rivers that flow through Iraq, saying this had seriously depleted the volume available for agriculture and hydro power and affected the quality of drinking water.
And he called for the world to "stand firmly against the Zionist aggression against the Palestinian people." Earlier, Mr Aziz hinted that UN weapons inspectors could return to his country if there was movement on some of the country's grievances.
"This issue [about the weapon inspectors] is not the only issue. Sanctions, the continuous aggression, threats of war, all these issues have to be addressed," he said.
Meanwhile, President Saddam Hussein today claimed the threat of US attack was motivated by the American desire to dominate the Middle Eastern oil market.
"Why all this American animosity against Iraq?" the official Iraqi News Agency quoted Saddam as saying. "Because America believes that if it destroys Iraq, it would control oil of the Middle East which makes up 65 per cent of world oil reserves."
His comments were made as Iraqi Foreign Minister Mr Naji Sabri met with his Russian counterpart Mr Igor Ivanov in Moscow. While senior US members of the Bush administration are still publicly divided over whether war on Iraq is inevitable, Mr Ivanov said said today that using force against Iraq could destabilize the entire region.
He said Iraq must accept the return of UN inspectors but said there was no evidence that Iraq was in possession of weapons of mass destruction.
AFP &