Iraq Threatens to Avenge Blockade : Gulf crisis: Hussein says he would strike Israel and cripple region’s oil fields if economic sanctions begin to strangle his nation. He warns forces to retreat or face a ‘ghastly fire.’

Lowering the threshold of war, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein declared Sunday that he will strike Israel and the Persian Gulf oil fields if the American-led blockade begins to strangle Iraq.

“Oil, the region and Israel will be the victims of the resulting deluge,” the defiant Iraqi leader declared.

“It is those who create this deluge who will be strangled. The oil lands in Saudi Arabia and other countries will be unable to meet the requirements of the occupation forces (U.S. and allied troops in the Saudi desert).”

A month ago, Hussein warned that his forces would strike the gulf oil fields if Western troops attacked his forces occupying Kuwait, but this was the first time he has threatened armed retaliation against the economic blockade.

The escalation of threat and rhetoric was broadcast by Baghdad Radio after a meeting of Iraq’s ruling Revolutionary Command Council and leaders of Hussein’s Arab Baath Socialist Party.

Hussein again rejected any possibility that his army would withdraw from Kuwait, which it invaded Aug. 2, insisting, “Our decision is eternal and irreversible under any circumstances.”

The pugnacious statement reflected growing economic pressure on Iraq, which has been unable to sell its oil abroad since the first days of the invasion and is faced with an effective land and sea blockade of food and other supplies. Some analysts give Iraq only two months before its industrial machine begins to crack under lack of spare parts and raw materials. Food is less of a problem, they say, but shortages are the focus of Iraqi propaganda.

In the tense atmosphere of the gulf, Hussein said, “a spark whether by accident or design could create a ghastly fire that will be followed by the deluge. To prevent that from happening, those concerned should pull out their troops, warplanes and naval fleets as soon as possible. There can be no understanding under the threat of arms and punishment.”

Washington, backed by European and allied Arab countries, has stood firm on the demand that no negotiations can take place until Iraqi forces withdraw from Kuwait, which Baghdad has declared annexed as the 19th province of Iraq.

Despite formidable Western air power in the Persian Gulf area, Iraqi planes and missiles are considered capable of reaching the oil fields of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and possibly the United Arab Emirates. A successful strike against Israeli targets would be more difficult, military analysts say.

With Saturday’s last planned planeload of American and British women and children safely out of the gulf, the issue of Western civilian casualties has diminished, even though hundreds of men are being held as “human shields” at strategic targets in Iraq and Kuwait, and some women and children have chosen to stay behind. President Bush has insisted that he does not seek war with Iraq, but he has not ruled out the option.

Meanwhile, in other Persian Gulf developments:

* Saudi Arabia said that Iraqi, Jordanian and Yemeni diplomats ordered expelled on Saturday had been “engaged in activities detrimental to the kingdom’s security and in a manner incompatible with diplomatic norms.”

Reuters news agency in Dhahran, the launch pad of the Western military buildup, quoted unidentified Arab diplomats as saying the diplomats were expelled for attempting to pinpoint U.S. and other military targets for guerrilla attack.

The Saudi statement said the activities of the three Arab embassies continued after Riyadh officials had issued a warning, “so the authorities were obliged to ask the respective governments to recall those diplomats and to limit the number of personnel in these missions.”

Here in Amman, a spokesman for Prime Minister Mudar Badran said Sunday that the Jordanian government has received no formal notification from Riyadh accusing its diplomats of spying.

Jordan “has no interest at all in this,” he said, branding press reports on the Saudi charges inaccurate and “lacking seriousness.”

His statement, distributed to reporters in Amman, was the latest from a Jordanian official on the expulsions. In every instance, Jordan has denied receiving any official notification from Riyadh, an apparent attempt to smother the issue with inattention.

“They seem to be surprised and embarrassed by all this,” a Western diplomat said, conceding that he himself had no direct knowledge of the ousters beyond the press reports.

But the prime minister’s spokesman appeared to acknowledge the expulsion order in saying, “The Jordanian government has no intention to deport any Saudi diplomat from Jordan.”

Press reports from Riyadh, the Saudi capital, said Saturday that 20 Jordanian, 30 Yemeni and an undisclosed number of Iraqi diplomats were being expelled. The three countries are members of the Baghdad-engineered Arab Cooperation Council, along with Egypt.

* In Iran, the official news agency said the government has received an unspecified number of MIG-29s, the top fighter in the Soviet air fleet. Film of one of the advanced aircraft, which Iraq also has obtained from Moscow, was shown on Tehran television Saturday night, the news agency said.

Iran’s air force is made up largely of American-made fighter planes purchased by the government of the late Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in the 1970s. The news agency did not disclose how many MIG-29s had been delivered but indicated they were flown in last week and said, “Iran’s air force commander was present when the planes landed at an air base.”

Syria, whose President Hafez Assad is visiting Tehran, also deploys the top-flight Soviet fighter.

* Egypt’s authoritative Al Ahram newspaper reported that at least 24 Egyptians have been killed in Iraq since the Kuwaiti invasion. Quoting Interior Minister Mohammed Abdel-Halim Moussa, the newspaper said the bodies have been returned to Egypt.

“We have definite information some of them died on the Iraqi-Jordanian border (as refugees) and all were killed violently and in brutal attacks,” Moussa was quoted as saying.

About 1.3 million Egyptians worked in Iraq and Kuwait, many as farm laborers, before the invasion. Egypt was the first Arab country to send forces to Saudi Arabia in the confrontation with Iraq.

* The Iraq government apologized to France for the storming 10 days ago of its ambassador’s residence in Kuwait, saying Iraqi troops thought the building belonged to a member of Kuwait’s ousted ruling family.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Baghdad had conducted a “thorough investigation.” The intrusion prompted Paris to send ground troops and armor to the Persian Gulf, and it sparked a round of tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions.

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