BAGHDAD, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said on Thursday he was not frightened by U.S. threats to topple his administration and his country was ready to repel any attack.

Speaking on the anniversary of the end of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, Saddam also called on the United Nations Security Council to answer a series of questions recently posed by Baghdad.

"There is no other choice for those who use threat and aggression but to be repelled even if they were to bring harm to their targets," Saddam said in a 22-minute taped televised speech to the nation.

"I say it in such clear terms so that no weakling should imagine that when we ignore responding to ill talk, then this means that we are frightened by the impudent threats...and so that no greedy tyrant should be misled into an action the consequences of which are beyond their calculations," he said.

Saddam, dressed in civilian clothes, added the United Nations should honour its obligations over trade sanctions imposed on Iraq in 1990 after its invasion of neighbouring Kuwait.

"The right way is that the Security Council should reply to the questions raised by Iraq, and should honour its obligations under its own resolutions," Saddam said.

Saddam's address came a day after U.S. President George W. Bush said that while Baghdad posed "real threats", he would consult with Congress and U.S. allies on how to proceed.

Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney made clear on Wednesday that no decision had been made to go to war to oust Saddam. But Cheney also said a return of U.N. weapons inspectors to Iraq may not resolve concerns over Baghdad's ability to develop weapons of mass destruction.

Bush, committed to removing Saddam from power, has accused the Iraqi leader of being a menace to the region.

"These are real threats and we owe it to our children to deal with these threats," Bush said in a speech at a high school in Madison, Mississippi.

"I promise you that I will be patient and deliberate, that we will continue to consult with Congress, and of course we'll consult with our friends and allies. We'll discuss these threats in real terms."

'PERHAPS THE MILITARY'

Bush added: "And I will explore all options and all tools at my disposal: diplomacy, international pressure, perhaps the military. But it's important for my fellow citizens to know that as we see threats evolving, we will deal with them."

Aides said it was not Bush's intention to send a conciliatory message to U.S. allies amid talk of war. They said he was simply restating U.S. policy.

Key U.S. allies have been urging the United States not to launch a strike against Iraq in an attempt to carry out the official U.S. policy of a "regime change" in Baghdad. Arab leaders are adamantly opposed to such a move.

Iraq offered last week to discuss the possible return of U.N. weapons inspectors, placed in Iraq after the Gulf War but withdrawn in 1998 on the eve of a U.S.-British bombing raid.

A resumption of inspections aimed at stopping Iraq from acquiring weapons of mass destruction could increase pressure on the United States from its European and Arab allies not to attack.