Iraqi communications and transport minister Ahmed Murtada Ahamed shakes the hand of Sheikh Hamad bin Ali bin Jabr al-Thani (R) as they pose in front of a Boeing 747 aircraft at Saddam International Airport November 16, 2000. Thani, head of the Gulf Falcon airlines, presented the plane to Iraq, saying it was a gift from him to [President Saddam Hussein] and the Iraqi people, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported on Thursday. Baghdad has been chipping away at the U.N. sanctions, attracting a growing stream of "humanitarian" flights and agreeing regular charter flights with Russia, but core measures remain in force and only a U.N. Security Council decision can remove them.