Envoys falling for US treachery trap, says Iraq minister

He said he was referring to the delegations at the United Nations, where diplomats are negotiating a new resolution to end the inspectors back, and Vienna, Austria, where UN nuclear weapons inspectors have their headquarters.

In the past, in high-profile defections of Iraqi diplomats, the United States has refused to comment on any role it may have played. In July 2001, when two Iraqis at the United Nations requested US asylum, state department spokesman Richard Boucher said ‘‘we don’t discuss alleged asylum requests.’’

However, Western intelligence officials and Iraqi dissidents said in Cairo, that the British and American officials have approached Iraqi diplomats at international gatherings to talk about defections.

Since Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, dozens of diplomats have defected to Arab or western countries. The defections, by some former government ministers and senior figures in the ruling Baath party, have been an embarrassment to Saddam’s government.