Iraq expresses readiness to settle pending issues with the West

The Iraqi deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz has expressed Iraq's readiness to discuss a comprehensive solution to pending problems with the West. He stressed the need not to limit this solution to the return back of the UN inspectors.

In a statement to the German daily Frankforter Tseintong issued on Friday, the Iraqi deputy premier asserted that any inspection should guarantee that there are no mass destruction weapons in the region as a whole, in remarks to Israel which is known to have great storage of nuclear weapons and refuses to subjugate it to any international inspection.

The Iraqi official described the special request to resume inspection for the Iraqi weapons as just a mere pretext.

The Iraqi deputy prime minister renewed Iraq's denial of having any link to those who carried out the attacks of September 11 against the US.