The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency said today his view was that Iraq was not yet in "material breach" of a UN resolution on disarmament.
Dr Mohamed El Baradei of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said he wanted another four to five months to carry out searches for suspected weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, after which time he believed he could declare Iraq clean of lethal weapons.
"If they [the UN Security Council] decide that this is a material breach, then that is their prerogative," he told BBC Radio. "We are not going to say that this is a material breach unless we see a gross violation of the resolution. But even then it is for the Security Council to pronounce on that".
Britain and the United States have declared Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in material breach of United Nations Resolution 1441, which demands that he surrender banned weapons or face "serious consequences," widely viewed to mean military action.
Dr El Baradei said IAEA inspectors were still investigating aluminium tubes found in Iraq for signs that they were being readied as part of banned weapons. But he said the agency's initial conclusion was they were being used for conventional weapons.