By
The Associated Press
NEW YORK - Iraq attempted to provoke the United States into a confrontation by flying a fighter jet into Saudi airspace last week, a senior U.S. official said yesterday.
It was the first time an Iraqi jet had flown over Saudi Arabia in more than a decade, the official said.
The United States reserves the right to respond to Iraq at a time of U.S. choosing, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The jet passed through a "no flight" zone over southern Iraq that is patrolled by U.S. and British jets. They evidently were not flying that day.
Tensions between the United States and Iraq have been on the rise, mostly over a renewed attempt to have U.N. inspectors go to Iraq to look for hidden weapons of mass destruction.
On Wednesday, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the United States would back vigorous diplomacy with a threat of force to preserve stability through the Middle East and Persian Gulf.
While Albright did not identify the potential targets in a speech to a Jewish group, a senior U.S. official said the United States would take military action if Iraq rebuilt its arsenals of dangerous weapons.
Albright harshly criticized Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on Tuesday in her last official speech to the United Nations. She urged other nations to "stand up to the campaign launched by Baghdad against the U.N.'s authority and international law."
In a news conference afterward, Albright denounced Saddam as a villain. She said she was not threatening force if Iraq did not permit a new U.N. inspection commission under Hans Blix, a Swedish arms control expert, to look for hidden weapons of mass destruction.
