UN Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan has told Iraq it will have to send a "formal invitation" for UN inspectors to return to Baghdad before further substantive talks could be held on weapons issues.
Mr Annan was replying to Iraqi Foreign Minister Mr Naji Sabri, who invited chief UN inspector Mr Hans Blix to go to Baghdad for a review of suspected weapons of mass destruction programs.
While turning down Iraq's invitation to discuss unresolved disarmament issues, Mr Annan left the door open for discussions between Mr Blix and Iraqi arms experts, diplomats said. Those presumably could be held outside of Baghdad on practical arrangements as to how future inspections would be conducted, such as communications and internal flights.
Mr Annan outlined steps Iraq must accept according to a 1999 Security Council resolution, which called for the return of the inspectors, who have been out of the country since they left in December 1998 on the eve of a US-British bombing raid.
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"I look forward to receiving from your government a confirmation that it accepts the sequence of steps outlined above, along with a formal invitation to the UN Monitoring, Inspection and Verification Commission," the body Mr Blix heads, known as UNMOVIC, Mr Annan wrote.
"It is my sincere hope that a speedy resumption of inspections will help facilitate the resolution of all outstanding issues," Mr Annan said.
At issue is Iraq's insistence the talks with Mr Blix focus on a UN evaluation of what remains to be done in investigating nuclear, chemical, biological and ballistic weapons programs.
But the 1999 Security Council resolution says the inspectors cannot determine "key remaining disarmament tasks" until they are back on the ground to see what happened since they left in December 1998.
Movement on the inspectors would probably create new international pressure on the United States to hold back on military action against Iraq, which the Bush administration is exploring in an effort to oust President Saddam Hussein.
Mr Annan in the letter said Mr Blix had to be guided by Security Council resolutions, and recalled disarmament discussions with Iraqi experts in talks he and Sabri led in Vienna on July 4th and 5th.
He said Mr Blix at that time "suggested to you that the most direct and appropriate way to resume the inspection process would be by holding talks at the expert level on practical arrangements for inspections."