Iraq must “do more” to avoid the threat of war, Blix warned without explaining what he meant by “more”

MOSCOW, January 16 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The head of the U.N.’s nuclear agency said Thursday, January 16, he would formally advise the U.N. Security Council that weapons inspectors need several more months to complete their work in Iraq, as chief U.N. weapons inspector said Iraq must “do more” to avoid war without specifying what “more” means.

The announcement comes just hours before the Council was to begin a tough debate on U.S. moves to hold arms inspections to a tight timetable in view of a possible military attack against Iraq, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

“I think we are inching forward but we still have quite a bit of work to do,” International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Mohamed ElBaradei told reporters in Moscow.

“Therefore we are going to ask for at least a few months to be able to complete our job,” he said.

ElBaradei and chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix are due to travel to Baghdad on Sunday, January 19, before presenting an update of their Iraqi findings to the U.N. Security Council on January 27.

Blix, who was meeting with E.U. officials in Brussels on Thursday, said he was “almost certain” that the Security Council would ask for an updated report on the Iraqi situation in February.

Iraq Must Do More to Avoid War: Blix

Iraq must “do more” to avoid the threat of war, Blix warned Thursday, without explaining what he meant by “more” as he called the situation “very dangerous.”

“The message that we want to bring to Baghdad is that the situation is very tense and very dangerous,” he told reporters after briefing E.U. leaders in Brussels.

He said there were two avenues towards resolving the crisis: inspections and disarmament or the use of force.

Blix said he hoped the first road was still possible but added: “We feel that Iraq must do more than they have done so far in order to make this a credible avenue.”

“Eight weeks is a very short time to be able to come to a conclusion,” ElBaradei said, referring to the time initially accorded to the inspectors to verify Iraq’s statement that it has no weapons of mass destruction.

“As long we are able to make progress, I expect the international community, the Security Council, to give us the time needed,” he said.

The U.S. president is due to deliver his annual State of the Union address on January 28, the day after ElBaradei and Blix present their findings, in a speech that will be closely scanned for any U.S. war plans on Baghdad.

ElBaradei said Baghdad had to provide documentary and physical evidence that they had destroyed all weapons of mass destruction and allow U.N. inspectors to interview Iraqi scientists “in private”.

“There are still a lot of open questions in the areas of chemical, biological and missile weapons, and also in the nuclear field,” he said.

ElBaradei warned Iraq must “do everything possible to demonstrate that they are clean of weapons of mass destruction as early as possible.”

The United States is amassing some 150,000 U.S. ground, air and naval personnel in the Gulf after threatening strikes against Baghdad.

Separately, ElBaradei told reporters he would travel to Tehran on February 25 to check on the level of nuclear cooperation between Russia and Iraq.

Russia is developing the Bushehr nuclear reactor for Iran amid intense Western pressure for Moscow to drop the project, which the United States fears may be used by Tehran to develop weapons of mass destruction.

“There are a number of facilities we will visit in Iran with my colleagues to make sure we have safeguards in these facilities,” he said.

“I will discuss with the Iranian authorities, with President (Mohammad) Khatami, ways and means of ensuring that all nuclear activities in Iran are dedicated to peaceful purposes,” the U.N. official said.