Iraq Says It Will Reject Truce Imposed by U.N. : Repeats Its Demand for Face-to-Face Talks; Perez de Cuellar Has Power to Order Cease-Fire

Peace negotiations between Iran and Iraq hit a potentially serious snag Tuesday as Iraq issued a blunt warning that it will reject any cease-fire that fails to win its agreement in advance.

The Iraqi delegation, stung by reports that Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar intended to impose a cease-fire in the eight-year-long war without Iraqi consent if necessary, repeated its demand for face-to-face talks with Iran.

At the same time, the Iraqis asserted that “peace has to be worked out between Iraq and Iran and not between Iran and the United Nations.”

Ambassador Riyadh Qaysi, spokesman for the delegation from Baghdad, declared in a statement:

‘A Grave Mistake’

“If anybody is harboring any illusions that Iraq will accept a fait accompli on this question, he should immediately realize that he is committing a grave mistake and doing a great damage to the cause of peace.”

He added, “We want a real peace process conducive to the achievement of a speedy, comprehensive, honorable and durable settlement and not a truce or a state of no war, no peace.”

The ambassador, an aide to Iraqi Foreign Minister Tarik Aziz, did not enter the U.N. headquarters building to read the statement but instead stood outside at the entrance.

Asked why Baghdad would not accept a cease-fire and work out its concerns later, Qaysi replied that Resolution 598, the U.N. Security Council call for peace voted by the 15-nation body last year, “is not a cease-fire, it’s a peace plan. That peace plan has to be negotiated face to face. . . . “

Aziz has met with Perez de Cuellar only three times since his arrival here July 26, compared with six sessions that Ali Akbar Velayati, his Iranian counterpart, has had in the past week. On Monday, the secretary general said he hoped to see Aziz on Tuesday, but the Iraqi official did not appear. Velayati, at first opposing direct talks with his enemy, later consented to talks face to face after a cease-fire declaration.

Confusion arose when Perez de Cuellar spoke to reporters Monday night after a two-hour meeting with Velayati. He said he would decide on a “D-day” for a cease-fire after the return of a military mission to Tehran and Baghdad led by Norwegian Lt. Gen. Martin Vaadset. Earlier set for today, the return is now expected Thursday.

As he has previously, the secretary general observed that the U.N. Charter gives him or the Security Council the power to order a cease-fire and to enforce it if necessary by use of troops or economic sanctions. The council has not used troops in an enforcement role since it sent an international force into the Congo, now Zaire, to quell a rebellion in the early 1960s.

U.S. Sought Sanctions

The United States sought sanctions against Iran when Tehran spurned Resolution 598 last year, but other Security Council members objected, and sanctions were never voted. The likelihood that sanctions might be adopted against Iraq are even slighter, especially in light of a strong statement of support for Iraq made by a seven-nation Arab committee in Baghdad on Tuesday.

Perez de Cuellar acknowledged that the Iranians have said he has the power to impose a cease-fire on his own.

“Theoretically, they are right,” he said. “But I prefer to be constantly in touch and first of all to wait for my team to report to me. Second, I would like to be in touch with the members of the council, and perhaps I may need as well to have some contact with the parties.”

He underlined his unwillingness to act alone, without consultation, when he arrived at U.N. headquarters Tuesday morning, saying:

“I want you to know that when I say that I’m going to declare cease-fire in consultation with the members of the council, I don’t exclude . . . that I’d be in touch as well with the two foreign ministers (of Iran and Iraq).”