"The embassy is working just as it does on other days," said Dulaimi who added that he had had "no contact with Baghdad for two weeks because of communication problems."

"I have not decided anything yet ... I'm waiting," he said.

In the United Arab Emirates, the Iraqi embassy in Abu Dhabi was not answering the telephone.

At the Iraqi consulate in Dubai, an employee noted that it was not unuusal for the missions to be closed on the first day of the local Muslim weekend.

Elsewhere in the Gulf, Baghdad's relations with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have been broken since the 1991 war sparked by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

SPACE.WIRE