"I caution against a repetition," he told RTL television in an interview, saying there was "no cause" to speculate over a new reason for war.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell tried earlier Thursday to assuage fears in Syria and Iran that Washington might be planning action against them too, saying recent US warnings do not mean that "war is coming."

His conciliatory tone came hours after US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accused Syria of helping the remnants of Saddam Hussein's Iraqi government.

Rumsfeld had last month raised fears that the United States might turn its attention next to Syria and Iran when he accused Damascus of secretly shipping military equipment to Iraq and said Iranian-backed Iraqi rebels had been seen crossing the border into Iraq.

"Naturally it would be desirable also to have a process of democratisation in other countries," Schroeder said in his RTL interview.

"But I caution against a repetition. I think that we should be very careful about surmising whether there could be a new war.

"We have no cause even to speculate whether and when there might be a new reason for war. I at least don't see any."

He said the primary task now was to avoid a humanitarian disaster in Iraq, then to return the country "as soon as possible into the hands of a legitimate Iraqi democracy."

SPACE.WIRE