TEHRAN, 4 August — The Kingdom and Iran yesterday voiced their opposition to any possible US military attack on Iraq while Washington said it was bent on a regime change in Baghdad even if Iraq agreed to allow UN weapons inspection.
Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal held separate meetings with President Mohammad Khatami and Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi.
The prince handed Khatami a written message from Crown Prince Abdullah, the regent. Khatami expressed his country’s concern with “the threats against Iraq.” “If aggression against one country becomes a habit, no government or country will be spared,” state television quoted him as saying “The countries in the region, and notably Iran and Saudi Arabia, must mobilize themselves to defend the prestige and dignity of Islam,” added Khatami.
Prince Saud told Khatami the situation between the United States and Iraq is “dangerous” and that Iraq’s neighbors were also under threat, Tehran radio reported. He said he did not believe the Iraqi problem could be solved militarily and also criticized Israel for its “abuse” in the occupied territories.
“We have always opposed any attack against an Arab or Muslim country and that also means Iraq,” he earlier told reporters when he was greeted at the airport by Kharrazi.
“We too have the same position,” Kharrazi said. “As we have said on various occasions, we are opposed to any attack launched against a Muslim country.” State radio cited a Foreign Ministry statement quoting both ministers as underlining the need for a “solution to the Iraqi crisis through peaceful and political means.”
The consultations between the two Gulf powers, which are to be followed today by a visit here by the top diplomat of another Gulf state — Oman — came as US officials warned Washington was determined to oust the Baghdad regime.
“Let there be no mistake. While we also insist on the reintroduction of the weapons inspectors, our policy at the same time insists on a regime change in Baghdad,” US Under Secretary of State John Bolton said. “That policy will not be altered whether the inspectors go in or not,” he said on BBC radio.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell earlier emphatically rejected an invitation by Iraq to the chief UN weapons inspector to visit Baghdad to discuss the resumption of inspections halted in December 1998.
The initiative came amid growing speculation that US President George W. Bush was considering military action to overthrow the Iraqi leader, whose country has been under crippling sanctions since its invasion of Kuwait in August 1990.
Powell, speaking to reporters in Manila, accused Iraqis of attempting to “change the goalposts” and wriggle out of their obligations.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder also spoke out against launching a strike against Iraq without considering the consequences for the entire Middle East. Schroeder warned against conducting such an operation “without thinking of the consequences, the political repercussions for the entire Middle East.”
“Whoever gets himself involved in that should know what he is getting involved in and what he wants to do there,” said Schroeder.
Schroeder’s Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said he was “deeply skeptical” about taking military action in Iraq. “To say now that it is necessary to bring about regime change (in Iraq) though armed intervention is, in my opinion, a poor choice of priorities,” Fischer said in an interview with ZDF television.
