Iraqi state television carried a report on Tuesday night strongly rejecting US charges that Iraq had filled missile warheads with VX nerve gas before the 1991 Gulf War.

The following is the text of the report from Iraqi TV:

An official spokesman for the National Monitoring Directorate has categorically rejected the claims by The Washington Post today on the discovery of VX disulphide and stabiliser material on the remaining parts of the warheads taken from a destruction site in the al-Taji area.

The official spokesman described these alleged findings which were reported to have been discovered by a US laboratory as pure fabrication.

He said that Iraq totally rejects the findings of the US Army laboratories, adding that Iraq was surprised at the choice by the UN Special Commission of these laboratories rather than laboratories of other countries which harbour no political enmity towards Iraq.

The official spokesman said that the truth is that the VX element was never deployed in any type of weapons or ammunition as this element was never produced in a stable state.

Therefore, Iraq categorically rejects the findings of the US Army laboratories.

The spokesman added that the idea of collecting the destroyed warheads and taking samples of them for analysis was originally an Iraqi idea as there were no documents to substantiate the Iraqi statements in this field.

The official spokesman recalled the claims and allegations made by the Unscom and its sources in the past, including the existence of VX and anthrax in the presidential sites, as well as the claims that Iraq concealed an operative missile force which was later proved false before the international public opinion.

The spokesman said that this new lie will be as short-lived as the previous ones.

The official spokesman concluded his statement by saying:

It seems that the Unscom has leaked this misleading information to the press despite the warning by the UN Secretary-General and many UN Security Council permanent members against leaking information to the media before the UN Security Council is informed of it.