BAGHDAD/LONDON, 29 January 2003 — Iraq yesterday warned its tiny neighbor Kuwait of harsh retaliation in the event of a war in the Gulf as Britain said Baghdad had clearly ignored UN disarmament demands.

"Kuwait is a battlefield and American troops are in Kuwait and preparing themselves to attack Iraq," said Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz late Monday in an interview with Canada’s CBC television.

"If there is an attack from Kuwait, I cannot say that we will not retaliate. We will of course retaliate against the American troops wherever they start their aggression on Iraq. This is legitimate," he added.

Asked whether Iraq would launch an attack on US territory, Aziz said: "No, because we don’t have the means and we don’t have the wish to make any mischief inside the United States."

Kuwait reacted angrily to Baghdad’s threat. "The Iraqi regime will pay a high price if it makes a move that threatens the security and sovereignty and territorial sanctity of Kuwait," Defense Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah said in a statement to the official KUNA news agency.

"This is yet another proof that reveals the hostile nature (of the Iraqi regime) and affirms that Kuwait has taken the correct choice of seeking aid of sisterly and friendly states for maintaining the sovereignty, stability and security of Kuwait," Sheikh Jaber said.

Warning Baghdad to stop its "game playing", British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said it was in "material breach" of UN Security Council resolutions, echoing Washington for the first time.

Bush is expected to use his State of the Union address at 9 p.m. (0200 GMT Wednesday) to argue that war is becoming unavoidable after weapons inspectors told the United Nations on Monday that Iraq was dragging its feet in meeting their demands.

US officials said Secretary of State Colin Powell may present new intelligence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to the Security Council next week to try to rally US allies.

One sign of a shift came when Russia, a veto-wielding member of the Council, signaled a tougher line against Baghdad, urging it not to hamper the inspectors’ work.

"If Iraq starts to present problems for inspectors, then Russia could change its position and agree with the United States on new, tougher actions by the UN Security Council," said President Vladimir Putin. He was speaking to university students in the Ukrainian capital Kiev

In Moscow, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov reiterated Putin’s message to Baghdad and said President Saddam Hussein must take note of the assessment of chief arms inspector Hans Blix that Iraq had not fulfilled its commitments to disarm. "We think that the work of inspectors must continue, while the leadership of Iraq must listen very seriously to the recommendations that were voiced Monday" at the United Nations during the arms inspectors’ report, Interfax quoted Ivanov as saying.

But Putin also issued a stark warning to the United States not to launch military action against Iraq without a new resolution from the UN Security Council.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said there was an "overwhelming majority" in the UN Security Council on the need for a second resolution before any military action is taken against Iraq. "That is the position we have on this issue and also the position of the overwhelming majority of the Security Council," said Schroeder, whose country is to take on the presidency of the Security Council at the start of next month.

In Iraq, Saddam warned army officers to be vigilant for any sign of treason. Washington has backed the idea of amnesty for senior Iraqis to encourage a change of leadership that could make a war unnecessary. "Treason is an unmanly act...It does not frighten. However, in times of inattention, it may produce a treacherous act," newspapers quoted Saddam as saying to a group of officers.

Blix said yesterday that Iraq had demanded UN help in buying sophisticated radars for two airfields as a condition for safe overflights by a U-2 spy plane loaned to UN arms inspectors.

UN inspectors have set up regional offices in Mosul to the north of Baghdad and in the southern city of Basra to help them in their work, and rely on nearby airfields in both cities.

"They wanted us to support permission for them to import special radars for Basra and Mosul," said Blix.

US and British coalition warplanes patrolling "no-fly" zones over Iraq have regularly targeted radar facilities and other strategic sites in recent months.

Blix said he rejected the condition as inappropriate as the Iraqis had made no such demand on U-2 overflights under a previous UN inspection regime.

The UN inspectors’ spokesman in Baghdad said the UN agency charged with disarming Iraq has failed to conduct interviews with all 16 Iraqi scientists it has requested to quiz in private. "To date, UNMOVIC has requested to interview in private 16 Iraqi individuals, but no private interviews have taken place so far," Hiro Ueki said, referring to the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC).

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said after talks with French President Jacques Chirac that a solution to the Iraqi crisis must be found to avoid a "calamity". The prince told journalists that during a 45-minute meeting the two men had discussed "what needs to be done to prevent a calamity and a crisis of immense proportion inside Iraq."

"We all hope for a possibility of a solution that avoids the dismemberment and maintains the territorial integrity of Iraq," Prince Saud said.

Chirac’s spokeswoman Catherine Colonna said the French leader and Prince Saud had "praised the work of the inspectors and want them to continue, while insisting that the cooperation from Iraq must improve."

Colonna emphasized the importance of giving the UN inspectors the time they need to complete their mission.

The two men said that "all alternative solutions to the use of force, which can only be justified as a last resort, must be explored," according to the spokeswoman.

Later after talks with his French counterpart Dominique de Villepin, the Saudi foreign minister reiterated that a diplomatic solution was the best way to resolve the crisis. "War and diplomacy are just ways to find solutions to problems. And it’s clear that if we are able to achieve our goals through peace, it would be better than by doing so through war," Saud said.

When asked about the possibility of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein being forced into exile, the minister said his country was not one "that intervenes in the internal affairs of others." Prince Saud said he would be in London today for talks with British leaders. (Agencies)