Baghdad - President Saddam Hussein and his ministers met yesterday to discuss measures against possible "US aggression" arising from the Iraqi ban on Americans taking part in UN weapons inspections. Also yesterday, Iraq turned back more US arms inspectors arriving from the UN and prepared to enforce a Wednesday deadline for those already in the country to leave.
In Washington, the US ambassador to the UN, Mr Bill Richardson, said the US hoped to resolve the dispute diplomatically but had not ruled out military action. US Congressional leaders meanwhile hinted they would support such action. Kuwait's defence council said it was closely watching Iraq's confrontation with the UN and had taken steps to defend itself.
The UN Special Commission (Unscom) in charge of disarming Iraq said the Iraqi authorities yesterday allowed in six arms inspectors of other nationalities, including the Swedish head of a monitoring centre in Baghdad, but "again the Americans were refused permission to return to their normal place of work". In "solidarity," a third US national who works for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to disarm Iraq returned with them aboard a UN plane to Manama, although he was not turned back.