03 August 2004	Tuesday	16 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

TEHRAN, Aug 2: Iran said on Monday that a Saudi initiative to send troops from Muslim states to Iraq was 'not appropriate'. "Since Iraq is currently under occupation, we do not consider sending troops there to be an appropriate measure," government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh told his weekly press conference.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, Hamid Reza Asefi, also opposed the idea at his weekly press briefing on Sunday. "The dispatch of these forces to Iraq will get the forces involved in a critical situation there," he said.

"No Muslim or Arab state is willing to dispatch its forces to war-torn Iraq under the present circumstances," he said, urging "the occupying forces to leave Iraq and to let the United Nations supervise the activities of foreign forces."

The Saudi proposal to send Arab or Muslim forces to Iraq was discussed by US Secretary of State Colin Powell with both Saudi leaders and Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi during a visit to the Gulf kingdom last week. -AFP