Iraq on Sunday banned American arms inspectors for the seventh consecutive day from entering Iraqi sites and said anti-aircraft systems were on alert to shoot down any hostile target.
Four (UN arms) teams halted their work today after the Iraqi authorities in the sites told them the Americans were not allowed to take part, the official Iraqi news agency INA said.
The ruling Baath party newspaper al-Thawra said anti-aircraft weapons were on alert a day before US U-2 spy planes used in United Nations arms monitoring were to resume flights over Iraq.
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Referring to the possibility of a US strike against Iraq, the paper said: In the light of this possibility and precaution, Iraq has put its air defensive systems on alert to shoot at any hostile target that may appear in Iraqi spaces whatever its kind and nationality.
A spokesman for Iraqs Ministry of Culture and Information condemned what he called hints by the US administration that force might be used against Iraq.
The United States has led to the recent tension between Iraq and the (UN) Special Commission (UNSCOM) ... in order to provide a pretext for a military aggression, said the spokesman in remarks quoted by newspapers.
The papers also attacked the chief UN arms inspector, Richard Butler, accusing him of siding with the United States to step up the dispute between Iraq and the United Nations over the American monitors, whom Iraq has accused of spying.
Butler is deliberately working to blow up a hot crisis ... through provoking Iraq and ordering U-2 planes to fly in order to create a military confrontation allowing America to commit a new aggression, said the government newspaper al-Jumhouriya.
Last Tuesday the United Nations suspended U-2 flights while a diplomatic delegation, which left Baghdad on Friday without achieving a breakthrough, was in the country.
Iraq on October 29 barred American members of UNSCOM, responsible dismantling of Iraqs weapons of mass destruction under the 1991 Gulf War ceasefire.
It said they were delaying UNSCOMs work in order to prolong UN sanctions imposed for Iraqs 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Sanctions will not be lifted unless UNSCOM gives a clean bill of health on Baghdads prohibited arms.
Iraqs Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz charged on Friday that UNSCOM was being used as a means and a cover.
This is an endless game, an endless process that will last maybe for decades, he said.
Thousands of anti-American demonstrators rallied in Baghdad on Saturday to support the government.
Butler, UNSCOMs chairman, told a news conference in New York on Friday that U-2s would resume flights on behalf of the United Nations on Monday, despite an Iraqi threat to shoot them down.
The UN Security Council is to meet on Monday to discuss the visit by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annans special mission.
The group was to meet Annan on Sunday night, and he was to take up the matter with the full Security Council on Monday. Aziz was to attend the Security Council session.
US President Bill Clinton met advisers at the White House on Saturday to weigh options.
Some US officials have conceded privately that there appeared to be little appetite at the United Nations for a military response.
In London, Prime Minister Tony Blair wrote to Clinton on Sunday telling him Britain was firmly behind the United States in the dispute with Iraq.
Blairs office released part of the letter, which said: I have no doubt that as in the past we must stand absolutely firm and absolutely together.
One senior US official said earlier that discussions in Washington had included a search for ways to increase economic pressure on the already financially strapped government of Iraq.
One likely response would be for the Security Council to impose a travel ban on Iraqi officials. There could also be tighter restrictions on Iraqs ability to import equipment with a dual civilian-military use.
While still struggling under UN sanctions, Iraq is allowed to sell about a million barrels of oil a day under a special arrangement with the United Nations in exchange for food and medicine for Iraqis.
The deal allowing Baghdad $2 billion worth of sales every six months comes up for renewal in early December.