Iran offers Iraq its help in ending crisis
TEHRAN, Dec 30 (AFP) - Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said here Wednesday
that Iran was ready to do all it could to end the crisis between Iraq and
the international community.
"Iran is ready to put forward every effort to put an end to the
crisis," Kharazi said after a meeting with visiting Iraqi deputy speaker
Ojeil Jalal Ismail.
Iran is "concerned" about the situation in Iraq and "out
of solidarity, the Iranian government is attempting to reduce the sufferings
of the Iraqi people," Kharazi told the official IRNA news agency.
Ismail praised Iran's "courageous position" against the US-British
air strikes, which he said were "not provided for by any rule or resolution
of the United Nations."
Iran condemned the four days of air strikes and said they had discredited
the United Nations and its Security Council. Earlier Ismail accused the
United States of seeking to impose "the law of the jungle" on
the world so it can dominate other countries.
"The United States is seeking to impose the law of the jungle to
dominate the world, which is why they have no respect for any international
laws or rules," he told Iran's state radio and television.
Ismail, here since Saturday for an official visit, also attacked the
UN arms inspectors seeking to uncover Iraq's weapons of mass destruction,
accusing them of "spying for the United States, Britain and Israel."
"It has been proven to Iraq that the UN weapons commission had
been spying. The day the Americans and the British attacked us, the commission's
life came to an end," Ismail told state radio.
He said his country "is not prepared to accept UNSCOM unless the
United Nations condemns the aggression and agrees to compensate Iraq for
the damage caused."
Ismail held talks with Iran's parliamentary speaker, Ali-Akbar Nateq-Nuri,
who also condemned the US-British military strike on Iraq, a country Iran
fought a war against from 1980 to 1988.
"The attack was was against international regulations and launched
without coordination with the United Nations and the Security Council.
It is a sign of America and its allies' bullying attitude," Nateq-Nuri
told the official news agency IRNA.
The speaker said his country was "keen to develop its ties with
Iraq within the framework of UN resolutions," and insisted the Islamic
republic is opposed to Iraq's partition.
Iran and Iraq are yet to sign a formal peace treaty 10 years after the
end of their war. The major sticking point remains the issue of prisoners
of war and reparations.
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