Iraq refused to back down yesterday in its showdown with the United Nations, blocking arms inspectors and threatening to shoot down warplanes enforcing "nofly" zones over the north and south of the country.
At a news conference here hours before the United Nations Security Council voted to impose new sanctions on Baghdad, the Foreign Minister, Mr Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf, also repeated a threat to expel US arms experts working for the UN.
Mr al-Sahhaf scoffed at threats of US military action and further UN sanctions, saying it was time for Arab leaders to side with Baghdad in its campaign to lift the economic embargo in force since Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
"We call upon them not to allow the Arab lands to be used to attack Iraq, which is suffering for more than seven years," he said.
He also said the "no-fly" zones over north and south Iraq imposed after the 1991 Gulf War and enforced by US, British and French warplanes stem from "a unilateral and illegal decision taken by the United States and Britain.
"So, from the very beginning we resisted it and we will continue to resist it. It is not a matter of shooting daily. Whenever we see proper to shoot them we will shoot them.
"We are watching intensified violations of Iraqi airspace in the north and the south by American warplanes. In addition to violations by warplanes, the Americans are using a second spy plane, a TR1."
He accused Washington of using "threats and blackmail" against other members of the Security Council to get them to impose new sanctions on Baghdad because of its decision to sever co-operation with US nationals working with the UN Special Commission (Unscom) on disarmament.
Iraqi authorities yesterday blocked UN arms inspectors for the ninth time in 10 days by barring access to US experts, Mr Alan Dacey of the UN arms monitoring centre in Baghdad said. Unscom has refused to carry out its work as long as the Iraqi ban on US arms inspectors stands.
UN sanctions cannot be lifted until Unscom certifies it has eliminated Baghdad's chemical and biological arms as well as long-range missiles. But Baghdad charges that the United States is using Unscom as a tool to keep the UN sanctions in place indefinitely and insists on changes to the make-up of the commission.
Official newspapers in Baghdad yesterday stressed that Iraq would not back down even under the threat of US military action.
"After the lesson we taught the United States in the `Mother of All Battles', Iraq will teach it a new lesson that it will not forget," the Babel newspaper said, referring to the Gulf War. "The barking of the United States does not scare the Iraqis," said the paper, run by President Saddam Hussein's son, Uday.
The paper also reported that Mr al-Sahhaf and other senior officials had volunteered for the "Fedayeen of Saddam", which is commanded by Uday, to defend Iraq in case of US attack.
The British Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, yesterday applauded the UN decision to impose new sanctions on Iraq. "The UN has responded to Saddam Hussein's provocation swiftly, strongly and unanimously," Mr Cook said in a statement.