KUALA LUMPUR -- Muslim nations discussed using oil as a "weapon" to fend off war against Iraq and urged Baghdad to comply with UN weapons inspectors during crisis talks here on Wednesday, AFP reported.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who called the informal meeting of 48 Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) nations, warned tinkering with the oil market could backfire on poorer nations but said it must be considered.

In a speech during the holy month of Ramazan the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei urged the Muslims to use the leverages at their disposal, including oil, to vindicate their rights.

"Oil is a double-edged weapon," Mahathir said without elaborating.

"The price of oil goes up, many of the countries of the South are going to suffer the most, many of those poor countries who have no oil.

"If we don't think about it, if we simply bump up the price, we might cause a very bad reaction, that is why we should think about it. "We should be very careful about using this double-edged weapon because it may hurt us more than it hurts the other parties."

Mahathir said there should be further discussion on the issue and is sure to bring it up at the emergency summit of the 57-member OIC in Qatar next week.

"There were some views that some weapons might rebound and we might have to pay a very high price so other than that most of us think that we should look into it," he said. "We should think about this, not just dismiss it."

Mahathir said the OIC members had also urged Iraq to comply fully with United Nations weapons inspectors, and rejected any new UN Security Council resolution.

Syria and Pakistan, who were both represented on Wednesday, are among the 15 Security Council members who will vote on the new resolution submitted on Monday by the United States, Britain and Spain.

"We are agreed that Iraq should comply completely with the requests by the inspectors for any examination into possible weapons of mass destruction which may be manufactured or which may be kept by Iraq," he told journalists. "Iraq, itself, denies that it has weapons of mass destruction and Iraq makes the invitation that if there is anyone who would like to see they can go and see for themselves." He added: "Our view is that there is no call to have any other resolution by the Security Council because the present one is adequate and the inspectors should be allowed to continue with their verification whether there are weapons of mass destruction or not."

Some Arab countries, including Iraq, have in the past suggested using oil embargoes on behalf of the Palestinians in their standoff with Israel, but the idea has never been followed through.