IRAQ'S DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER HAMDOON SPEAKS IN BAGHDAD TO COMMENT ON THE OIL FOR FOOD...

Iraq's deputy Foreign Minister Nazar Hamdoon speaks during an interview in Baghdad December 5. Iraq will reject any extension of less than six months in its oil-for-food deal with the United Nations, Iraq's Deputy Foreign Minister Nizar Hamdoon told Reuters. Hamdoon, a former Iraqi ambassador to the U.N., also said his country did not rule out the possibility of the United States and Britain launching missile and air attacks against his country, similar to those in December last year. Baghdad on Saturday refused the U.N. Security Council's one-week extension of the oil-for-food programme, which allows Iraq to sell a limited amount of oil over six months to buy humanitarian supplies for the Iraqi people. FK/JDP