TEHRAN, July 4: Iran said on Sunday it would submit an indictment to the Baghdad court trying Saddam Hussein, who as president waged a protracted war against his neighbour.

Saddam, caught last year by US troops, appeared in court on Thursday and was told by an Iraqi judge he would face charges relating to seven alleged crimes spanning three decades, but no mention was made of the 1980-1988 war against Iran.

"Iran will definitely submit an indictment to the court, it is ready," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told a news conference. "The trial should be open and his crimes against Iran should be reviewed."

Charges against Saddam cover invading Kuwait in 1990, suppressing uprisings by Kurds and Shias after the 1991 Gulf war, ethnic cleansing of Kurds in 1987-88 and gassing Kurdish villagers in 1988.

Hundreds of thousands died on both sides in the war of attrition between Iran and Iraq, in which Baghdad used poison gas against Iranian soldiers and civilians. -Reuters