US to let nuclear inspectors back into Iraq

LONDON - The United States will let the UN's nuclear watchdog agency return to Iraq to verify Baghdad's compliance with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a diplomat said today.

"There is no question that inspectors from the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) will eventually go back to Iraq," the diplomat, familiar with US thinking, told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

"They are the guardians of the NPT," he said, adding that Iraq was a signatory of the global treaty aimed at stopping the spread of nuclear weapons.

The diplomat did not say when the US would let the inspectors back, but said it was clear Washington saw the IAEA playing a "long-term role in Iraq," monitoring its nuclear activities.

The diplomat did not mention the UN's other inspection body, chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix's UNMOVIC monitoring and verification agency, which hunted for Iraq's alleged chemical, biological and ballistic arms.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei has been calling for a quick return of UN inspectors, who left Baghdad days before the US launched a war to disarm Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The US has so far refused to allow the inspectors back into Iraq and has taken over the job of hunting for Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

The US and Britain alleged that Iraq was reviving its ambitious nuclear weapons program that IAEA inspectors had uncovered and destroyed before fleeing the country in December 1998.

After returning to Iraq last November, UNMOVIC inspectors found some banned missiles, but were unable to prove or disprove US allegations that Iraq had chemical and biological weapons.

The IAEA found no indications that Iraq was rebuilding its nuclear arms program as Washington charged.

Herald Feature: Iraq