Bangkok: Terming the situation in Iraq as "very complex", Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on October 9 said the possibility of India sending troops to the war-ravaged country would depend on its domestic security considerations and the role of the UN.

"The situation in Iraq now is very complex. There is an urgent need for the United Nations to assume a central role in the humanitarian efforts, in the economic rebuilding of the country, and in promoting the political process of handing over sovereignty to the people of Iraq," he said.

In an interview to Thai newspaper 'Matichon', the Prime Minister said New Delhi hopes that the on-going discussions in the UN on all these aspects would reach an early and satisfactory conclusion.

To a question about the possibility of sending Indian troops in Iraq, the Prime Minister said, "I can only say that this would depend on all the factors I have mentioned, as well as our own domestic security considerations."

Observing that India had been consistently calling for a resolution of the Iraq issue without military conflict, Vajpayee said, "We were disappointed that the five permanent members of the UN Security Council could not reach agreement on the means of its resolution, though they shared the same objective of keeping Iraq free of weapons of mass destruction.

"Now that the conflict is over, it is futile to go into the rights and wrongs of the situation," the Prime Minister added.

PTI