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Posted on 01/15/2003 2:36:14 PM PST by knighthawk
TEHRAN, Jan 14 (AFP) - Iran supports US efforts to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction but not its aim of imposing regime change in Baghdad, a top Iranian security official said Tuesday.
"If the US goal is to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, all regional countries agree," said Hassan Rohani, head of Iran's Supreme Council for National Security in talks with Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja.
"But if the US wants regime change in Baghdad, it is in violation of the UN charter and all the regional countries are opposed to that," he said, quoted by the state news agency IRNA.
"Iraq must implement the UN resolutions and the UN inspectors must be given enough time to do their job," Rohani added.
He said "the massacre of innocent civilians, influx of refugees, insecurity in neighbouring countries, US domination of Iraqi oil fields and the formation of a puppet regime in Iraq" were the main objections to a US-led war.
The Finnish foreign minister said, "The EU believes the Iraqi crisis must be resolved under UN leadership."
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