Iraq Hints No Need for Further UN Arms Inspections

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, August 13, 2002

Iraq Hints No Need for Further UN Arms Inspections

Iraqi Minister of Information Mohammad Said al-Sahaf on Monday said UN arms inspectors have already completed their work, hinting there is no need for further weapons inspections by the world body.

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Iraqi Minister of Information Mohammad Said al-Sahaf on Monday said UN arms inspectors have already completed their work, hinting there is no need for further weapons inspections by the world body.

"The work of the United Nations concerning the so-called prohibited weapons has been accomplished," al-Sahaf said in an interview with the Qatar-based satellite television of Al-Jazeera.

Al-Sahaf also accused the United States of "telling a lie" in its insistence that Iraq has not given up weapons of mass destruction programs.

Al-Sahaf's remarks came as the relations between Iraq and the United Nations have come to a deadlock with regard to the weapon inspections and the US administration is piling up its threats to attack Iraq.

The UN arms inspectors, who were commissioned to verify that Iraq has eliminated its weapons of mass destruction, left Iraq on the eve of the US-British air war against Baghdad on Dec. 17-19, 1998. They have since not been allowed to come back.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri and the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan held three rounds of talks in March, May and July this year, but failed to reach any agreement on the return of UN arms inspectors.

In a bid to reopen high-level talks with the United Nations, Iraq on Aug. 1 invited the chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix to Baghdad for technical talks.

Annan last Tuesday welcomed Iraq's invitation concerning arms inspections, but stressed that the resumption of such inspections must comply with the UN Security Council's roadmap for the return of UN weapons inspectors.

US President George W. Bush has accused Iraq of pursuing weaponsof mass destruction and supporting terrorism, and repeatedly vowed to achieve a "regime change" in Iraq.

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