Iraq Envoy Tells U.N. It’s Time to Lift Sanctions : Diplomacy: But it is doubtful any Security Council member will agree during today’s confrontation.

Tarik Aziz, Iraq’s leading envoy to the outside world, insisted Tuesday that any “fair and professional” evaluation of his country’s behavior in the last year would conclude that the United Nations should lift its sanctions against Iraq.

The sanctions, which have caused severe hardships, “should not be imposed eternally on the Iraqi people,” he told reporters.

But these assertions by Aziz--the Iraqi deputy prime minister who served as President Saddam Hussein’s foreign minister during the frantic diplomatic maneuvering that preceded the Persian Gulf War--only laid down Iraq’s battle lines for the dramatic public confrontation between Aziz and the Security Council today.

It is doubtful that any member of the Security Council will accept the Iraqi position.

In fact, Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and his inspectors have accused Iraq of refusing to comply fully with council resolutions demanding an end to Iraqi programs for building nuclear, chemical, biological and other weapons of mass destruction.

In line with this, Diego Arria, the Venezuelan ambassador who is serving as council president this month, plans to open today’s session with a statement warning Iraq “of the serious consequences of continued material breaches of its obligations.”

According to a draft of the statement that Arria will read on behalf of the 15 members of the council, the United Nations will inform Aziz that “the Security Council considers itself justified in concluding that Iraq has failed to comply fully with the obligations placed upon it by the council.”

After conferring privately with Arria and with the seven ambassadors on the council representing Third World countries such as India and Morocco, Aziz told reporters that he had come to New York on “a goodwill mission.”

He said that Iraq is “doing its utmost” to fulfill the demands of the U.N. resolutions ending the war. So far, he went on, Iraq has complied with “a very high percentage” of the demands and has demonstrated its willingness to go along with the rest of its obligations.

In turn, he said, “we would like the Security Council to meet their obligations to the Iraqi people.” When asked what he meant specifically, Aziz replied, with an emotional rise in his voice: “Lifting the sanctions. The time has come to consider this matter in a fair manner.”

But, in an evident reference to the United States and Britain, Iraq’s most powerful foes in the Gulf War and its most implacable council adversaries, Aziz said there are still “a number of states who would like to hurt Iraq. . . .”

Arria, after meeting with Aziz, told reporters that the Iraqi envoy understands that “the conditions of the council were unconditional” and that Iraq has to comply fully with the resolutions. “If there is total compliance,” Arria said, “then sanctions will be automatically lifted.”

Rolf Ekeus, chairman of the U.N. special commission charged with overseeing the dismantling of Iraq’s military power, told reporters that any lifting of sanctions now would reward Iraq despite a long record of concealment and obstruction during the last year. “I don’t see why Iraq should be rewarded,” he said.

David Hannay, the British ambassador, dismissed any idea that the council would bargain with Aziz. “This was never intended as a negotiating session, and it will not be one,” he said.

The unusual open session of the Security Council, with its promise of a sharp debate between Aziz and some council members, stems from an impasse between the U.N. special commission and Iraq last month. Iraqi officials then refused an order from U.N. inspectors to destroy considerable machinery and other equipment used in the manufacture and conversion of Scud ballistic missiles.

Under the council resolutions, the Iraqis insisted, they have the right to use the machinery and equipment for the manufacture of peaceful products and of short-range missiles. This contention was dismissed by U.N. officials.

In any case, these officials said, Iraq would be permitted to keep this kind of machinery for civilian use only if the United Nations were allowed, as demanded in one resolution, to inspect Iraq indefinitely. But Iraq, so far, has refused to announce its acceptance of this resolution, a refusal that the United Nations regards as tantamount to defiance.