UN weapons inspectors say the start of their mission to Iraq tomorrow is an opportunity for Baghdad to move back towards full membership of the international community.
Chief weapons inspector Hans Blix said the question of war and peace now lay with the Iraqi government.
Mr Blix is in Cyprus en route to Iraq along with a 25-strong team of technical experts.
The Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz earlier promised the full cooperation of his government to the United Nations weapons inspectors.
Mr Aziz said no weapons of mass destruction had been developed by Iraq since the last round of inspections four years ago.
Speaking about the task which lay ahead, the Chief Weapons Inspector, Hans Blix, said it was up to the Security Council to decide whether any further action should be taken.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said today Saddam would be making the mistake of his life if he stood in the way of inspectors looking for biological, chemical and nuclear weapons.
Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said that while Iraq was ready to comply fully, the results would expose as lies US charges that Iraq had been arming for war.
ElBaradei said the threshold for the use of force if Iraq failed to comply with the weapons inspectors was very low and that he would make this clear to the Iraqis.
Aziz warned that if the United States and Britain 'wage a war against Iraq, consequences will be very bad to them and their friends in the region.'
He said inspectors should not think they could just barge into sites.
Blix says formal inspections start on November 27, and he expects to have 100 inspectors in Iraq by the end of the year.
The first significant test is a deadline on 8 December for Iraq to submit a full account of all its banned weapons programmes. By 27 January next year, the inspectors must have given their first report to the UN Security Council.
Blix, who will return to Cyprus from Baghdad on Wednesday, said technology improvements since the inspectors left in 1998 improved chances of finding any hidden weapons.
President George W Bush remains sceptical that Iraq would adhere to the U.N. resolution sending the inspectors into Baghdad.
