Using the polite, protocol-laced language of his profession, Prince Bandar bin Sultan said Ramadan's remarks were untrue, undignified, not in keeping with his position and indicative of poor moral standards and parenting.

"It is regrettable to hear His Excellency utter such statements knowing that they are not true," the prince said.

"His Excellency is well acquainted with the honorable positions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its leadership in its support of the Iraqi people," he said in a statement released by the Saudi embassy in Washington.

"I do not have any response to what he said, since neither my principles nor my family upbringing lead me to speak in such a manner, and each person behaves according to his moral values," Prince Bandar said.

"As the poet said: 'A curse from a fool is a testimony to the wisdom of the person denigrated'," he added, delivering a not-so-subtle comeback.

On Tuesday in Baghdad, Ramadan lashed out at Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, accusing him of working for the US government for appearing to suggest that Saddam step down to end the ongoing war in Iraq and spare the Iraqi people harm.

"I say to this (US) agent: We would have preferred you didn't carry an Arab name and didn't have Arab blood," the vice president told reporters. "Nobody in the Arab world is unaware of who he is and who he works for.

"Those who will step down and be swept away from Arab lands are you and your like," Ramadan said, hurling additional invective at Kuwait, the major launching pad for many of the troops in the US-led invasion.

"Kuwait is a country which is participating ... in the aggression ... Kuwait should be expelled from all Arab organisations," he said. "It's a cancer in the Arab body."

Prince Bandar did not specifically mention Prince Saud's call for Saddam to make a "sacrifice" for the Iraqi people or address Ramadan's criticism of Kuwait, but he made clear his positions on both.

"I pray to God Almighty to protect the brotherly people of Iraq and its valiant army from this war, and from the tragedies they have endured ever since the 1980 war against the Islamic Republic of Iran and the 1990 invasion of the brotherly State of Kuwait," he said in the statement.

"I pray to God to guide the Iraqi leadership to what serves the interests of their country and their brotherly people."

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