January 9, 2002	Wednesday	Shawwal 24, 1422

BAGHDAD, Jan 8: Iraq’s foreign minister is to visit Tehran to discuss the return of Iraqi aircraft grounded in Iran since the Gulf War, a local newspaper said on Tuesday.

The weekly al-Rafidain, owned by President Saddam Hussein’s eldest son Uday, said Foreign Minister Naji Sabri would visit Tehran at the end of the month.

“He will discuss the return of Iraqi civilian and military aircraft grounded in Iran since 1991,” the paper quoted a source at the Iraqi Transport Ministry as saying.

In 1991, Iraq said some 140 Iraqi warplanes and civilian planes were moved to Iran to escape US-led bombing. At the time, Iran said only 22 Iraqi planes had landed and it would not give them back without the approval of the UN Security Council.—Reuters