BAGHDAD, May 16 (News Agencies) - Iraq accepts U.N. Security Council Resolution 1409 seeking to free up delivery of humanitarian supplies to the sanctions-stricken population, Information Minister Mohammad Said Al-Sahhaf said Thursday, May 16.

"Iraq will deal with Resolution 1409 adopted by the Security Council (late Tuesday) with regard to renewing the oil-for-food program for six months," Sahhaf said, quoted by the official INA news agency.

He was speaking after a joint meeting of Iraq's ruling Revolution Command Council (RCC) and Baath Party leadership chaired by President Saddam Hussein, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

A statement issued after the meeting renewed Iraq's demand for an unconditional lifting of the sanctions regime and "a halt to the U.S.-British aggression" on the country through the enforcement of "no-fly" zones in the north and south.

"Full lifting of the embargo and a halt to the U.S.-British aggression is the solution that would satisfy Iraq's people, fulfill their legitimate interests and preserve their sovereign right to their resources, [territorial] waters and airspace," the statement said.

It called for "the aggressors" to drop their "flimsy and transparent pretexts" to perpetuate the sanctions and overflights, affirming that Iraq would "take the decisions and measures that safeguard its rights at the appropriate time," INA reported.

The Security Council voted unanimously to revamp the sanctions regime in force since Iraq's August 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

The council adopted a goods review list (GRL) to replace the cumbersome vetting procedures of the U.N.'s oil-for-food lifeline, which has for five and a half years enabled Iraq to import basic necessities despite the trade embargo.

Until now, all import contracts have been vetted by the Security Council's sanctions committee to ensure that Iraq does not get round an arms embargo enforced with other sanctions when it invaded Kuwait.

After May 30, when the revamped system comes into force with the new phase of oil-for-food, the committee will examine only contracts that contain potential “dual-use” items on the GRL, a 300-page list that includes computers, vehicles, chemical compounds and telecommunications equipment.

These also may be imported, provided that the U.N. arms inspectorate and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are satisfied that they will not be diverted to military purposes.

But Iraqi officials have repeatedly accused the U.S. administration, which is openly threatening to unseat the Iraqi leader, of twisting arms at the Security Council to ensure that it perpetuates the sanctions on their country.