Hans Blix, Inspectors due in Iraq in two weeks
Iraqi negotiators and UN weapons inspectors have reached agreement in Vienna on the logistics of resuming inspections. An advanced team of inspectors is expected to arrive in Iraq in around two weeks.
Top UN officials said the deal was struck as the Iraqi delegation, under pressure from the threat of a US-led military attack, made a show of good faith by handing over long overdue information about their nuclear facilities.
Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix told reporters after the two-day meeting that the Iraqi side accepted all rights of inspection provided for in all the relevant Security Council resolutions.
While he said there was a "big difference" in Iraq's willingness to co-operate compared to 1998, the deal did not change existing special rules on access to Iraq's presidential palaces.
The negotiations finished amid increasingly tough language from the US and Britain, who accuse Saddam of stockpiling weapons of mass destruction.
Washington has meanwhile said it opposes the return of UN inspectors to Iraq without new instructions from the UN Security Council.
A senior state department official said if the arms inspectors prepared to move sooner, the US would go into what he called thwart mode to stop them.
Irish voters opposed to action - pollMeanwhile, a new opinion poll indicates that Irish voters are opposed to military action against Iraq, even if Saddam Hussein's regime fails to comply with United Nations resolutions on weapons inspections.
In the MRBI survey for the Irish Times, 59% of respondents said Ireland should vote against the authorisation of the use of force in the UN Security Council.
29% were in favour, with 12% having no opinion.
More than two-thirds of those questioned were opposed to military action being carried out by the United States without UN approval.
The poll shows that opposition to the authorisation of military action if Iraq fails to comply with UN resolutions is strong among supporters of all parties, in all age groups and all sectors of society.
Opposition is much stronger among women than among men with 66% of women opposed and 50% of men.
Responding to the poll findings, Independent Socialist, Joe Higgins, urged the Government to refuse US warplanes permission to refuel at Shannon airport and to oppose any war moves.
