Amman, Jordan ? Jordan’s King Abdullah II dismissed speculation that his family’s Hashemite dynasty might rule Iraq if Saddam Hussein is ousted.

“I am the head of the Hashemite dynasty and I say very clearly that this family has no ambitions to regain leadership in Iraq,” Abdullah said in television remarks broadcast Friday.

The king said he believed that foreign leadership could not be imposed on Iraq in an apparent reference to his uncle, Prince Hassan, who attended a July forum in Britain of Iraqi opposition leaders to discuss a possible U.S.-led effort to oust Saddam.

“If there was any member of this family who thinks in a different way, then that member only represents himself,” Abdullah told the Middle East Broadcasting Center, a Saudi-owned satellite TV station based in the United Arab Emirates.

Some have speculated that Hassan, once heir to the Jordanian throne, has emerged as a candidate to reinstate Hashemite rule in Iraq, where his cousin, King Faisal II, ruled from 1953 until he was killed in a coup five years later.

Abdullah told MBC he favored a negotiated settlement to the dispute between Iraq and the United Nations.

“We believe that a military operation, or a new war in the region, will have a devastating effect on all the people of the region,” he said.

In case of war, Jordan will not admit Iraqi refugees, except in transit to another country, and it will not allow them to set up camps on its borders, Abdullah said. “They will not be allowed to stop over or stay in Jordanian territory,” he said.

Jordan, which is a key U.S. ally in the Mideast but maintains close business ties with Iraq, has said it would not be a launching pad for an attack on its neighbor.

Iraqi imports of Jordanian goods amounted to $700 million last year. Jordan also receives all its daily requirement of 90,000 barrels of oil from Iraq at preferential prices under a U.N.-sanctioned deal.