The United States has hit back after Saddam Hussein's tough-talking speech on Saturday and told the Iraqi president he "must be dreaming" if he thought sanctions would be dropped.

The American ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson said the Iraqi leader was "dreaming" if he thought sanctions would be removed without Iraq complying with all UN Security Council resolutions and allowing "full and unfettered access to all sites of weapons of mass destruction."

Mr Richardson said the US was losing patience with Iraq and insisted the international community was committed to ensuring the dismantling of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

The British Defence Secretary George Robertson told the BBC's Breakfast with Frost programme on Sunday that Saddam Hussein must comply with the UN.

"What happens now is up to Saddam and whether he complies with what the international community is telling him to do," he said.

George Robertson: "force is not the best option" (5' 31")

"What we want is a diplomatic solution where Saddam allows access by UN inspectors to the sites where they believe there might be weapons of mass destruction.

"At the end of the day, however, there has got to be an option involving force and it is right and proper to put the assets into the area to make sure that takes place."

On Saturday the Iraqi leader warned Baghdad would stop all co-operation with UN weapons inspectors unless seven-year-old sanctions imposed on Iraq were lifted soon.

His comments came in a televised address marking the seventh anniversary of the start of the Gulf War.

The Iraqi News Agency (INA) quoted Saddam as saying: "If the Security Council does not adopt its decision to meet its obligations towards Iraq ... Iraq is determined to adopt a stand parallel to a recommendation by representatives of the people in the National Assembly and it will be responsible for its decision.

"There is no other option left for Iraq but this position," he said.

Iraq's National Assembly last November recommended that the UN weapons inspectors should complete their work within six months.

He also warned the United States against any military attack on his country, saying Washington would reap nothing from such action.

One UN Special Commission (Unscom) team of inspectors, led by American Scott Ritter, has been withdrawn from Iraq after being denied access to suspect sites for four days running.

Mr Ritter had been investigating suspicions that Iraq had tested biological and chemical weapons on prisoners - something Iraq denies.

It is the second time in three months the UN has withdrawn inspectors.

Iraq says the team is dominated by Americans and Britons and accuses Mr Ritter of being a CIA spy.

Britain has dispatched the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible to the Gulf to boost the American-led force there.

The withdrawal puts extra pressure on the UN's chief inspector, Richard Butler, who is due in Baghdad on Monday.

He is returning to the region after holding talks in Paris about broadening the representation of the UN teams. Both France and Russia have offered to send personnel to join them in an effort to defuse the dispute.

Mr Butler said before leaving Paris that he has major concerns about Iraq's willingness to comply with UN resolutions on disarmament.

He said the Iraqi government had made considerable progress in the disarmament process which made it harder to understand why it had once again taken action which challenged the inspection operation.

On the eve of President Saddam's speech, several dozen Iraqis took to the streets in an anti-western demonstration marking the anniversary of the start of the Gulf War.

Members of Iraqi youth groups and disabled war veterans staged their protest in front of the offices of the United Nations Development Programme.

"Saddam will stay in power, whether the US likes it or not," chanted the youths as they banged on tambourines and danced in the street.

Around 20 veterans in wheelchairs took part in the demonstration.

"There is no life without the sun, and no dignity without Saddam," read a banner carried by the handicapped veterans.

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