Caroline Wyatt: 'War of words'

Mr Aziz accused President Hosni Mubarak of "double dealing" with respect to Iraq.

The deputy prime minister's remarks came in response to Egypt's rejection of calls for an Arab summit to discuss whether to help Iraq break the sanctions which the UN imposed after the Gulf War in 1991.

Iraq is hoping to build on a wave of Arab sympathy

A meeting of Arab foreign ministers, which was to have discussed Baghdad's proposal to ignore UN sanctions against Iraq, has meanwhile been postponed until 24 January from Wednesday.

In an editorial for an Iraqi paper, Mr Aziz said Egypt had failed to recognise that the recent air strikes by the United States and Britain had no legal basis and were an insult that threatened the standing of the United Nations.

Mr Aziz said that others within the Arab world had recognised that Washington, and not Baghdad, was to blame for what he termed its aggression against Iraq.

But the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Amr Mussa, played down the decision to postpone the meeting, telling journalists that the aim of the postponement was to prepare the meeting properly. It would enable more coordination and consultation to be held among the foreign ministers, he said.

Our correspondent in Baghdad says Iraq is trying to unite the Arab world behind its position, in order to exploit deep divisions in the UN Security Council over how to deal with Baghdad's refusal to co-operate with UN weapons inspections.

Iraq's ultimate aim is to see sanctions lifted without the weapons inspectors resuming their work.

Mubarak blames regime

While President Mubarak has condemned the British and US air strikes which ended a week ago, he said it was the ruling regime that was the cause of the problems.

Economic prospects for ordinary Iraqis remain bleak

"Egypt, naturally, does not support this regime," he said.

A meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo that was due to discuss Iraq on Wednesday has been postponed until after the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

On Monday Iraq's Trade Minister told reporters that the government would refuse to extend the oil-for-food programme which he described as an excuse to keep sanctions in place without actually helping Iraqi people.

With the current agreement ending in May 1999, Iraq's move is being interpreted as a means of upping diplomatic pressure on the UN to bring an early close to sanctions.