LONDON Ñ Saddam's son and heir apparent headed a military delegation on a secret visit to Iran last week and offered to pay cash "at a very high price" for intermediate-range missiles, an Arabic newspaper reported.
Iran turned down the request according to the report in the London-based A-Sharq Al Awsat.
Qusay Hussein, who heads Iraq's elite Republican Guards and key security
agencies, sought a range of Iranian weapons with the Shihab-3 intermediate-range missile at the top of his list. The missile has a range of 1,300
kilometers and can strike virtually any U.S. military base in the Persian
Gulf and Levant from Iraq, according to Middle East Newsline.
Members of the Iraqi delegation, who entered Iran by
land, requested an unspecified number of Shihab-1, Shihab-2 and Shihab-3
missiles "in cash and for a very high price."
The report by Iranian emigrant and former
political editor Ali Nourizadeh, quoted a senior Iranian source as saying
Qusay Hussein met with Iranian military leaders without
the knowledge of Iranian President Mohammed Khatami. Iran was represented at the meetings by Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Brig. Gen. Mohammed Baqir Dhual Qadr.
Hours later, Iran denied the newspaper report. An Iranian government
spokesman said there are no plans for Qusay Hussein to visit.
"The demands of the Iraqi side were proposed to the senior leadership,"
the newspaper reported on Monday. "The reply was quick and decisive to
reject any cooperation with Iraq in the military and security fields."
Iraq also requested that Teheran return more than 40 military aircraft
flown to Iran during the 1991 Gulf war to prevent their destruction by the
United States. A-Sharq Al Awsat reported that Qusay Hussein offered to pay for all
of the costs of maintenance and delivery of the aircraft and buy the
platforms for half of its original price. The Iraqi aircraft in Iran include
MiG-29, Su-24 and Mirage F1-E.
The newspaper said Iran rejected the Iraqi requests. Instead, Teheran
offered humanitarian aid should the United States attack Iraq.
