MINISTERS faced renewed questioning on the use of uranium-tipped weapons in the Gulf war last night after Iraq announced it had filed a claim for damages with the United Nations.

Labour MP Tam Dalyell will raise the issue in the Commons next week. The Defence Ministry sought to play down the affair by pointing out it had never disguised the use of such shells.

Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, the Iraqi Foreign Minister, tried to pass off a public statement by the Foreign Office last month as a ''new and additional admission'' that British armoured forces used anti-tank shells made with depleted uranium in the drive to force Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait.

The state-controlled Iraqi news agency Irna said his letter to UN General Secretary Kofi Annan set out the health consequences for those in the area of the fighting.

But an April 30 letter from Foreign Office Minister Derek Fatchett to Kelvin Labour MP George Galloway claims the shells were not used near the areas of southern Iraq which the Hussein government claims were affected.

Mr al-Sahaf claimed: ''This new admission asserts previous confirmations made by official and unofficial British and US organisations that the coalition troops committed annihilation crimes punishable by international law.

''Scientific studies and research have unequivocally shown that the United States and Britain used depleted uranium in their military operations against Iraq, exposing vast areas to fatal radioactive pollution.

''A number of diseases, unfamiliar in the past, have been registered, such as foetal and bone deformities and other cases that cannot be explained, such as loss of hair and strange skin diseases.

''Individuals living in the bombarded areas suffer from such diseases, in addition to rising cases of child leukemia.''

Tam Dalyell, who has campaigned for the lifting of sanctions against Iraq, called on Britain to co-operate with Iraq in investigating so-called Gulf War Syndrome, since he believes British Gulf veterans and Iraqi people are suffering the same symptoms.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: ''The Government has not yet been approached by the Iraqi government. We are not aware of any details of the alleged complaint to the UN. The UK has never attempted to conceal its use of depleted uranium ammunition in the Gulf.''

Depleted uranium is used to weight shells, and make them more dense, making them highly effective in piercing tank armour. Fewer than 100 of this type of shell were fired by British forces in the Gulf war. Although the uranium is toxic if ingested, the shells are not radioactive.

Meanwhile, new research released yesterday suggested drugs given to protect soldiers in the Gulf war against chemical weapons might have induced long-term effects similar to those of post-traumatic stress disorder.

The drugs contained a type of enzyme-inhibiter shown to have an effect on brain chemistry which mirrors that of stress.

Both initially bring about increased levels of a nerve message chemical called acetylcholine, which is known to be important for learning and memory. But Israeli scientists have reported a hitherto unknown mechanism whereby prolonged exposure either to stress or the Gulf war chemical results in the reverse effect - a depletion of the neurotransmitter.

It is thought this could account for symptoms typical of post-traumatic stress disorder, such as depression, irritability, and impaired cognitive performance.

If the link is confirmed it is likely to re-ignite the debate over Gulf War Syndrome. Veterans have argued that their symptoms of cognitive and mood problems, joint pain, inflammation, and chronic fatigue are due to the toxic cocktail of chemicals to which they were exposed. Many experts have cast doubt on the claims.

The new findings, reported in the science journal Nature today, bridge both points of view, proposing a common effect caused by post-traumatic stress disorder and substances present in anti-chemical weapon vaccinations which might explain the ''delayed neurocognitive disturbances'' reported by veterans.