"We will not allow (Prince Sultan Air Base) to be used for anything other than what was agreed in the Safwan accord of 1991,” said Prince Saud

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, February 26 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal repudiated Wednesday, February 26, press reports that Riyadh would allow U.S. forces to launch or direct attacks against Iraq from its territory.

"We will not allow (Prince Sultan Air Base) to be used for anything other than what was agreed in the Safwan accord of 1991," meaning use of the base south of Riyadh to enforce a "no-fly" zone over southern Iraq, he told reporters.

Prince Saud was referring to a Washington Post report which said Wednesday that the United States and Saudi Arabia had reached new agreements that would allow expanded U.S. air operations from Saudi territory, including full use of Prince Sultan Air Base in the event of war against Iraq.

Saudi Arabia said there was no point in holding an emergency summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

"Saudi Arabia thinks that such a meeting would have no use for Arabs and Muslims and would lend nothing new to the Iraq issue," a Saudi official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Most OIC member states were anyway discussing Iraq on the sidelines of the 116-strong Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Malaysia, he said.

This came as the Washington Post quoted senior U.S. officials and diplomatic sources as saying that the United States and Saudi Arabia have reached new agreements that will allow expanded U.S. air operations from Saudi territory, including full use of Prince Sultan Air Base as an air operations center in the event of war against Iraq.

"We've had talks over the past three weeks that have been very productive, and both we and the Saudis are satisfied," a U.S. official said, reported the Post.

The official added that they have "reached agreements that affect facilities inside Saudi Arabia and a broad array of military operations that could happen in the event of hostilities with Iraq."

In addition to the use of the air command and control center at Prince Sultan, 70 miles southeast of the Saudi capital Riyadh, the agreements will allow the United States to fly refueling aircraft, AWACS surveillance planes and JSTARS battlefield radar aircraft from Saudi airfields, the sources told the paper.

He added that a tacit agreement will also allow the United States to conduct bombing missions from Saudi Arabia.

"It's been a tough decision for them, given the pressures that they're under. There is a lot of emotion in both places about the political challenges in both countries about this cooperation. . . . We respect their situation and the risk they're running," a U.S. defense official told the Post.

Muslim scholars had said that assisting the U.S. forces against attacking Iraq is not permissible in Islam.

OIC Leaders Meet on Iraq, Discuss Using Oil "Weapon"

Forty-eight OIC members, including Iraq and 15 heads of government, held crisis talks in Kuala Lumpur Wednesday, urging Baghdad to comply with U.N. weapons inspectors.

The informal gathering precedes a planned emergency session of the 57-member OIC in Qatar on March 5, reported AFP.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad said the OIC members who met during the NAM summit in Kuala Lumpur urged Iraq to comply fully with the United Nations weapons inspectors.

"We are agreed that Iraq should comply completely with the requests by the inspectors for any examination into possible weapons of mass destruction, which may be manufactured or which may be kept by Iraq," Mahathir said.

He added that the meeting, which included some of the world's biggest oil producers, had discussed using oil as a "weapon" to fend off war with Iraq.

"This is something very dangerous as some say it might cause a lot of repercussions, but if we don't think about it we may not be able to influence things in our favor," he said.

Fifteen heads of government joined the special session called by Mahathir immediately after the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit here, which rejected any war without U.N. approval.

Qatar, which had previously objected to the informal meeting, was represented by Prime Minister Abdullah bin Khalifa Al-Thani.

U.N. Security council members Syria and Pakistan were also present, two days after the United States, Britain and Spain submitted a new resolution on Iraq.

According to sources at OIC's general secretariat in Jeddah, only 16 OIC member states have agreed to holding an extraordinary summit, contrary to Qatar's claim that 27 had already consented to such a meeting.

Qatar, which currently chairs the OIC, invited the pan-Islamic body member states to hold an extraordinary summit on Iraq on March 5, an OIC official said Thursday, February 20.

Doha has called for the summit to discuss the current regional situation in light of a possible U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Qatar, a close U.S. ally, is likely to serve as the command center of a military campaign.

NAM, which wrapped up late Tuesday, had condemned Bush's "axis of evil" description of its members Iraq, Iran and North Korea.

Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan told the 116-nation NAM summit on Tuesday that Baghdad was determined to iron out all problems over its alleged banned arms.

"Iraq is determined to continue its efforts to help with verification of all problems if (the U.N.) requests details," he said.

However, Ramadan also condemned Washington for "seeking world domination and a policy of using force against Iraq, using all the means of coercion and persecution at their disposal to impose their rule over the country".