WASHINGTON. Oct 9: A US battle group led by the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson left the Arabian Sea Tuesday, significantly reducing the US naval presence in the Gulf area, reports AFP.

The Vinson's departure left a single US aircraft carrier and its battle group in the Gulf, where a confrontation between the United States and Iraq led to a major military buildup last month.

The United States retaliated for an Iraqi offensive into a Kurdish safe haven in Northern Iraq by expanding a no-fly zone In southern Iraq from the 32nd to the 33rd parallel.

The movement of the Vinson signals US confidence that Iraq has abandoned efforts to reconstitute its air defences in the south, which were struck by US cruise missiles September 3 and

Besides* the carrier USS Enterprise. there are still 17 US navy vessels in the US fifth fleet's area of operations, which includes the Gulf.

Eight F-117 Stealth fighters and three armoured battalions remain in Kuwait, and a squadron of F- 16s is in Bahrain in addition to US warplanes enforcing the no-fly zone from a new base in Saudi Arabia.

The Vinson, which was headed for Australia, was accompanied by three guided missile cruisers, an attack suma-rine. a guided missile frigate and two supply ships.

Meanwhile. Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said Tuesday that Baghdad wanted talks with Washington, but the United States was opposed to dialogue.

Addressing some 300 representatives of Iraqis living

abroad. Aziz said there was no dialogue even at UN ambassador level.

He also accused the United Nations of delaying the application of an agreement to allow Iraq to sell oil to Import food and humanitarian supplies, easing the sanctions Imposed on Baghdad at the time of the Gulf War.

The United States announced the suspension of the agreement in September, when it launched cruise missile attacks on military targets near Baghdad.