Changes in the details of China's domestic situation will not affect the specific situation in the Gulf theater. The ships of the Navy in the theater of operations, such things as renaming and decommissioning also had to wait until the end of the war.

It has been nearly one month since the multinational force launched the "Desert Storm" air raid operation, and because of the addition of the PLA on the plane, the strike effect has become better, and it has also had a huge impact on the Iraqi side, so that its hardline attitude has changed slightly.

After the end of the battle at Khafji, Saddam Hussein said after a meeting with Soviet presidential envoy Primakov that "Iraq is willing to cooperate with the Soviet Union and other countries and institutions to jointly seek a way to end the Gulf War." ”

Subsequently, the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council issued a statement saying that Iraq is ready to implement UN Resolution 660 and achieve a decent political settlement of the Gulf War, including the withdrawal of its troops. But at the same time, 9 conditions are attached:1. All multinational forces and equipment stationed in the Gulf after 2 August (Iraq's invasion of Kuwait) must be withdrawn; 2。 The partial withdrawal of the multinational group must be completed within 1 month, and then the Gulf region is declared a free zone; 3。 Israel must withdraw from the areas it has seized by force in accordance with UN resolutions; 4。 Weapons and equipment brought into Israel under the pretext of the Gulf crisis must be withdrawn; 5。 Iraq's rights to its territory and territorial waters must be fully guaranteed; 6。 Genuine democracy must be practised in Kuwait; 7。 All sanctions resolutions against Iraq must be lifted; 8。 The member States of the Multinational Force and their supporters must pay reparations for the reconstruction of destroyed Iraqi facilities; 9。 All of Iraq's external debt must be abolished.

In the face of the encirclement and suppression of hundreds of thousands of troops by the multinational force, and the overall unfavorable situation in the war, these conditions put forward by Iraq are simply brainless. In particular, the issue of the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the occupied territories is involved, and there is no practical effect at all.

The elder United States President George H.W. Bush immediately made a very strong televised speech, in which he said that Iraq must completely, completely and unconditionally withdraw its troops from Kuwait and that the withdrawal must not be linked to other problems in the region. Pending a large-scale withdrawal of Iraqi troops, the multinational force will continue its military operations in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions to force Iraq to withdraw its troops from Kuwait and force Saddam Hussein to step down.

British Prime Minister John Major also said that Iraq's proposal for a withdrawal included a number of unacceptable conditions. For example, France, China, Saudi Arabia and other relevant countries have also expressed similar views at different levels and voices.

At the same time, the multinational force's air force continued to carry out large-scale bombardment of the Iraqi army's artillery, armored units, chemical weapons depots, aircraft shelters, and other military targets, exerting greater pressure on the Iraqi army and Saddam's regime.

Not all countries in the world are on the side of the multinational force, and many countries are also actively mediating the end of the Gulf War out of the standpoint of humanitarianism and peace in the world.

Austria put forward a five-point proposal for maintaining peace in the Gulf, namely: extensive dialogue between Islamic countries and Western countries to promote mutual understanding between different religions and eliminate prejudices and old grudges; convening an international conference on the Middle East to resolve the contradictions between Arab countries and Israel; the establishment of a OSCE-like mechanism in the Middle East; convening a conference on disarmament in the Middle East; Restricting arms exports within the boundaries of the world.

Some of the above proposals would indeed be constructive, but the differences between the interests of the countries, the contradictions between Israel and the Arab countries are not easy to reconcile, and the desire to establish a unified OSCE-type mechanism in the Middle East itself lacks a basis for cooperation. The other is to demand restrictions on arms exports, which is nothing for a country like Austria, but it is a big problem for countries such as China, the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, and France, and it is naturally impossible to obtain the endorsement of the world's major powers.

On the same day, the Soviet Union put forward four more proposals for ending the Gulf War:1. Iraq withdrew its forces from Kuwait without preconditions in order to achieve peace quickly; 2。 The Soviet Union supported the preservation of Iraq's state structure and borders; 3。 The USSR was against all sanctions against Iraq, including against Saddam? any punitive act by Hussein himself; 4。 All other issues — including the Palestinian question — will be resolved through negotiations.

In response, the United States reacted, although these conditions were far from the original intention of the United States, but the Soviet Union could not afford not to give face, so its attitude also loosened a little, and put forward five conditions for the withdrawal of Iraqi troops: 1. Iraqi troops withdrew from Kuwait within four days; 2。 Iraq's renunciation of tanks, artillery and other weapons that it had brought into Kuwait at the time of its invasion of Kuwait; 3。 Demands that Iraq immediately release the Multinational Force prisoners of war, including the more than 2,000 Kuwaiti soldiers held during Iraq's invasion of Kosovo; 4。 Demands that Iraq disclose the location of the mines it has planted in Côte d'Ivow; 4。 Demands that Iraq disclose the location of the mines it has planted in Côte d'Ivow; 5。 Iraq is called upon to accept the 12 resolutions adopted by the United Nations to resolve the Gulf crisis, not just to implement resolution 660, which is required to withdraw to its pre-war position. In addition, the United States and Britain unanimously maintained that an arms embargo on Iraq after the war was necessary and that international supervision should be exercised over the exploitation of Iraq's oil resources in the future.

Among these conditions, in addition to the unconditional withdrawal of troops, the others are also basically unacceptable to Iraq, such as giving up a large number of weapons, arms embargoes, and oil and gas exploitation, and if these conditions are agreed, the Saddam regime will be finished.

In view of the hardline attitude of the US government, Iraqi Foreign Minister Aziz urgently flew to Moscow on a red-eye flight and held a two-hour meeting with Gorbachev, and the two sides reached an eight-point agreement on the withdrawal of troops:1. the complete and unconditional withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kosovo; 2。 The withdrawal of troops from Kosovo began the day after the ceasefire; 3。 complete the withdrawal of troops within the stipulated time; 4。 After Iraq withdrew two-thirds of its troops from Iraq, the international community stopped sanctions against Iraq; 5。 After the withdrawal, the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council on Iraq became invalid; 6。 Immediately after the ceasefire, both sides released prisoners of war; 7。 Under the auspices of the United Nations, the Security Council entrusts non-belligerents to supervise the withdrawal of troops; 8。 The parties continue to agree on the details of the withdrawal.

The eight-point agreement between the Soviet Union and Iraq is, in all fairness, a more reasonable truce out, and although there is still room for revision in some details, what is unacceptable has been largely removed.

But such an agreement has put the United States in an awkward position. Because the deployment of the US-led multinational force for a ground offensive is ready, the date for launching the offensive has been set in a few days. If this agreement is accepted, the air raids launched by Desert Storm will be meaningless, and the hundreds of thousands of ground troops who are ready to fight will be useless, and they will have to go home, spending a lot of money and political resources, but they will not be able to get the victory and prestige they need, and the situation will be difficult to manage. Accepting this agreement undoubtedly means the defeat of the US-led multinational force, and even Qi Yiming himself cannot accept the withdrawal of the PLA at this time.

However, the Soviet-Iranian eight-point agreement is the closest agreement to what the United States has demanded since the Gulf crisis, and the United States cannot ignore it. After the elder Bush urgently convened the cabinet and think tanks for discussion, he took the risk of throwing out a seven-point ultimatum: 1. Iraq must begin withdrawing its troops three days later at 12 noon (EST) and complete within a week. Any delay is considered a failure to meet the requirements of UNSCR 660 for Iraq's immediate withdrawal from Kuwait. 2。 Within 48 hours of the start of the withdrawal, Iraq must withdraw all its troops from Kuwait City and allow the legitimate Government of Kosovo to return immediately. Iraq must withdraw all of its defensive capabilities from the Kosha, Kuwaiti-Iraqi borders, including Bubiyan and Walbay islands, and Kuwait's Lula oil fields. 3。 Within seven weeks, the Iraqi army must return to its pre-1 August position, in accordance with resolution 660. 4。 Iraq must cooperate with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to release all prisoners of war and third-country nationals within 48 hours of the start of the withdrawal. 5。 Iraq must remove all explosives, including those laid in Kuwaiti oil wells, and provide information on all minefields on the ground and at sea. 6。 Iraq must cease the use of anti-aircraft artillery fire and all aircraft activities over Iraq and Kosovo. 7。 Iraq must cease all destructive actions against its citizens and property and release all Kuwaitis detained.

In this regard, the Soviet Union and Iran immediately put forward a six-point agreement, which can be regarded as a bargaining of US conditions, and both Iraq and the Soviet Union are somewhat naïve to believe that the conditions put forward by the United States are sincere and that the war may be stopped immediately. Its contents are:1. Iraq agreed to implement UNSCR 660 and to immediately and unconditionally withdraw all its forces from Kuwait and return to the status quo ante 1 August 1990; 2。 cessation of all military operations on land, sea and air and the commencement of withdrawal on the second day after the ceasefire; 3。 The withdrawal will be completed within 21 days, and the withdrawal from Kuwait will be completed within the first 4 days of the stipulated period; 4。 After the withdrawal of troops from Kuwait, the basis for the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council no longer exists, therefore, the implementation of these resolutions will cease to exist; 5。 Release and repatriate all prisoners of war within three days of the cessation of military operations and the establishment of a ceasefire; 6。 The ceasefire and withdrawal will be implemented by observers or peacekeeping forces in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.

In essence, these elements are roughly the same as those of the American ultimatum, but they are more operational in terms of details, because the American ultimatum is too tight on time. However, the U.S. government actually lacks sincerity and has no intention of accepting such a new agreement, still sticking to the content of the ultimatum previously proposed.

As a matter of fact, although the US ultimatum is a bit harsher than the six-point agreement of the last version of the Soviet-Iranian ultimatum, as long as Iraq accepts it, it will not be caught in the sore foot if there is a slight delay in its implementation, because if the US military does so, it will greatly damage its image. The US Government is not at all prepared for Iraq to accept the most difficult ultimatum, and all its actions are actually just a gesture to cater to the international community, but the purpose is to make Saddam Hussein unacceptable and eventually go to war.

In the end, out of some thought, Saddam Hussein ignored the American ultimatum, and in the midst of the Americans' fears, the date of the ultimatum came, and Operation Sabre in the desert officially began.