The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency said today he expected to reach a breakthrough in the area of chemical and biological weapons in Iraq.
In an interview with the Reutersnews agency, Dr Mohammed ElBaradei said he still believed the inspections could help successfully disarm Iraq, despite the growing impatience from the US, which has said that without full co-operation from Baghdad extending the inspections would be pointless.
"From my point of view, I still believe that we haven't exhausted the inspection possibilities," he said.
"We expect to get a breakthrough in the area of chemical and biological (weapons) and missiles. Maybe we will not completely finish the job (this weekend), but we would like to see a breakthrough," he said.
Dr ElBaradei said that Iraq had yet to respond to a letter he and Dr Hans Blix sent to Baghdad outlining the agenda for the two-day visit and urging Iraq accept some UN demands. Dr ElBaradei said he interpreted the silence as an acceptance of their requests.
"I assume that if we do not get a response then they agree with our expectations and our understandings," he said. He said that he still believed the inspections could help successfully disarm Iraq, despite the growing impatience from the US, which has said that without full co-operation from Baghdad extending the inspections would be pointless.
But he warned that the world was losing patience with Iraq and Baghdad needed to begin co-operating more with UN weapons inspectors.
He said that he had made progress in nuclear inspections, but that it was difficult to say how long the world's patience would hold out without similar progress regarding Iraq's co-operation in the area under Dr Blix's authority.
"If we are against a total deadlock, particularly in the area of chemical, biological and missile (weapons), where there is no inching forward, then I cannot really predict the outcome," he said.
"There is an agreement that Iraq needs to co-operate more, that the international community is getting impatient and that inspectors should be able to provide positive reports soon," he added.