Ivanov: U.S. Demand to Break Diplomatic Relations with Iraq Has No Legal Power

A U.S. demand to other countries to break diplomatic relations with Iraq has no legal power, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said. He stressed that if the Russian Foreign Ministry had received such a demand, its reaction would have been "appropriate" because the demand had no legal power.

On Friday, official spokesman for the U.S. State Department Richard Boucher said that the USA called upon all countries to "to temporarily break diplomatic relations with Iraq and expel the Iraqi diplomats."