Iraq’s deputy prime minister Mr Tareq Aziz said his country is prepared for war should it be attacked and rejected a US call for Baghdad to allow UN weapons inspectors back into the country.
"We are preparing ourselves to defend our country, this is our duty," Mr Aziz said.
Mr Aziz' comments, in an interview broadcast by a Dutch TV station, follow a statement by US president Mr George W Bush who last week demanded that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein allow UN arms inspectors to return to Iraq and said Saddam would "find out" the consequences if he refused.
"Why should we bring spies into Iraq to spy on us, to spy on our headquarters where we work and on our legitimate military activities just to please Mr Bush or the US administration? The answer is no," Mr Aziz said.
He said all chemical weapons it had during the Gulf War in 1991 had been destroyed and Iraq was not manufacturing new ones.
"We are not interested in producing such weapons."