Jordan Skirts Air Embargo : 3 Jets Land; Iraq Extends Rationing

Three Iraqi passenger planes touched down today in Jordan, raising questions about Jordan’s support for the new U.N. embargo on Iraqi air traffic. But Jordan later said it would halt all flights to and from Iraq to comply with the embargo.

Iraq bitterly attacked its former ally the Soviet Union today and said Arabs would not be friendly toward a country in “the alliance of American hostility.”

And in a sign that the sanctions are hurting Iraqis, Baghdad also announced that it would extend rationing to rice, flour and cooking oil.

The passengers aboard the three regularly scheduled Iraqi Airways planes landing in Amman included nine expelled French diplomats and 11 Britons stranded during Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait on Aug. 2. It was not known what their cargo holds contained. The planes all returned to Baghdad.

On Tuesday, Jordanian officials said the passenger aircraft were not included in the embargo resolution passed Tuesday by the U.N. Security Council.

However, Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Kasim said today that Jordan will comply fully with the embargo and halt passenger flights to and from Iraq, including freedom flights for Westerners stranded in Iraq and Kuwait.

“Jordan has continued to allow a minimum number of flights by the Iraqi Airways, due to humanitarian considerations, facilitating the movement of foreign nationals from Iraq and Kuwait,” he said in a statement at U.N. headquarters in New York.

“However, those flights will now be terminated in accordance with (the air embargo),” said Kasim, who is also the deputy prime minister.

The U.N. resolution does not mention passenger planes but says all planes traveling to and from Iraq should be checked to make sure they are not carrying cargo prohibited by the U.N. trade sanctions. The resolution prohibits the use of force to stop planes, but allows for the detention of aircraft.

The tirade against the Soviet Union by the official Iraqi News Agency was in response to Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze’s speech Tuesday to the United Nations condemning the invasion of Kuwait.

The news said the tone of the speech by Shevardnadze “clearly shows the bribe given by America and its allies the oil sheiks.”

Iraqi officials announced that the new food rationing will begin this weekend. Trade and Finance Minister Mohammed Mahdi Saleh said sugar and tea will also be affected by the new restrictions. The government already closed fast-food restaurants and many pastry shops because they use large amounts of sugar.