KUWAIT CITY -- Kuwait said Monday it would not support strikes on Iraq and urged the Baghdad regime to fully comply with UN Resolutions after talks with U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney, AFP reported.

"We will not support this (a strike) against Iraq, not because Iraq is a friend of Kuwait but because the present circumstances are not suitable," First Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-sabah told a press conference.

"The Iraqi regime will not be harmed but the Iraqi poeple will," he said.

"This is why I hope the Iraqi regime could appreciate what would happen to its people if it refused to let the UN inspectors in," Sheikh Sabah said.

Cheney said: "I don't like to speculate on future action," referring to the U.S. threat to punish Iraq for refusing to readmit the arms weapons.

"Iraq has a responsibility to comply with UN Resolutions," he added, alluding to weapons of mass destruction and the issue of Kuwiaits missing since the 1991 Gulf War.

Cheney held talks with Emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah shortly after arriving in Kuwait on the last Arab leg of a Middle East tour to rally support for the campaign against terror. Crown Prince and Prime Minister Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah as well as Sheikh Sabah also attended the meeting, the state KUNA news agency said.

Kuwait offered a warm welcome to Cheney, who was defense secretary in 1991 when U.S.-led forces liberated the Emirate from Iraqi occupation.

Cheney arrived from Doha, where he held talks with Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on Sunday night, covering the Middle East peace process and the situation in the Palestinian territories.

The vice-president left for the airport and a flight to Israel for talks with leaders of the Zionist regime. There were conflicting reports on whether he might also meet Palestinian officials.

Cheney has already visited Jordan, Egypt, Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and is also to travel to Turkey.