BAGHDAD, July 6: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, apparently defiant at US threats to topple him, said on Saturday that US military power was in decline.

“The weakness of America’s military is now obvious and it will weaken more and more in two, five, 15 or 20 years,” the Iraqi News Agency INA quoted Saddam as telling visiting Indian Oil Minister Ram Naik.

India wants to sign an oil agreement with Iraq to develop a southern Iraqi oilfield, once United Nations sanctions are lifted.

Saddam’s remarks came amid fresh reports about US preparations for what President George W. Bush calls a “regime change” in Iraq.

The New York Times reported on Friday that the Pentagon had drafted plans to invade Iraq using air, land and sea-based forces. The newspaper said the plans appeared in an advanced state although an attack did not seem imminent.

INA said Naik delivered a message from Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to Saddam. INA said the message focused on “dimensions of expanding trade and economic cooperation.”

Saddam was also quoted as telling Naik that U.N. trade sanctions were a decision forced by Washington on the U.N. Security Council.

Naik said his country opposed the sanctions on Iraq, imposed for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. He said his country wanted to see an immediate end to the embargoes.

He said his country wanted to expand relations with Iraq in the fields of oil, health, agriculture, electricity and transportation.

He said the volume of trade exchange between Baghdad and New Delhi under an “oil-for-food” deal with the United Nations had reached $1.1 billion.

The oil-for-food pact, an exemption of the U.N. sanctions, allows Iraq to sell oil to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian needs for the Iraqi people.

Iraq’s Oil Minister Amir Muhammed Rasheed and his Indian counterpart began on Saturday two days of meetings that were expected to lead to a trade and commerce agreement.—Reuters