The head of Iraq's interim Governing Council said on Wednesday that Iran deserved reparations arising out of the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, but left open whether payment would be forthcoming.

"According to the U.N., Iran deserves reparations. She must be satisfied," Abdelaziz al-Hakim told a news conference after meeting British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"Whether we will pay or not is something which we need to discuss further," he added.

Iran has claimed that it is owed $100 billion relating to the 1980s war which was started by Iraq and says that its claim is backed by United Nations resolutions, and cites reparations made to Kuwait for the 1990 Iraqi invasion which has seen billions of dollars paid out already.

Iraq has already seen awards made against it by the United Nations Compensation Commission of $46.25 billion to corporations, governments and individuals relating to the invasion of Kuwait.

Already some $17.987 billion has paid out of Iraqi oil revenues through the UN Oil-for-Food fund and some $97.9 billion of claims have yet to be processed by the UNCC, of which analysts estimate that additional awards will be around $20-30 billion.

Hakim also said that all countries should be able to participate in Iraq's reconstruction.

Washington has barred opponents of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, including France and Germany, from bidding for contracts to rebuild the war-torn country worth about $18.6 billion.

Hakim said that in discussions with Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw he had talked about Iraq's reconstruction.

They discussed "the necessity to have...participation by all nations, organizations and open to all the countries that want to take part in the reconstruction process," he said.

Another member of the Iraqi Governing Council delegation visiting London, Jalal Talabani, told the news conference that Iran has so far not asked for any money during his visits there.

"Instead they offered a lot of help. They did not discuss with us in any of our meetings the subject of reparations," Talabani said.

Existing reparations add hugely to Iraq's already unmanageable debt due to Saddam Hussein's economic mismanagement, the war against Iran and invasion of Kuwait, and it owes an estimated $120 billion.

The U.S. has appointed a special envoy, former Secretary of State James Baker to push along the debt relief issue and he is touring European capitals, having already been to Paris, Berlin and Rome.

He will meet Britain's Blair on Thursday, later flying to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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