COMMENTS BY CROWN PRINCE ABDULLAH OF SAUDI ARABIA

London, England

25 June 2001

Responding to a question on smart sanctions against Iraq that the U.S. administration is trying to develop, Crown Prince Abdullah said we announced three years ago a Saudi initiative aiming at eliminating the sufferings of Iraqi people and the responsibility now rests on Iraqi leadership that obstructs every movement to remove the sufferings.

He noted that sanctions do not target the Iraqi people but they are means to an end that is protection of the region from new adventures of the Iraqi regime.