Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Mr Tareq Aziz said today the return of UN weapons inspectors to Baghdad was being considered.
Reporters had asked if Iraq was prepared to let the inspectors, who left Baghdad in 1998, back into the country.
Mr Aziz is in South Africa to represent Iraq at the Earth Summit, which is seeking ways to lift poor nations out of poverty without spoiling the environment.
But Mr Aziz told CNN yesterday that allowing weapons inspectors back into Iraq under the direction of chief UN arms inspector Mr Hans Blix was not an option. Saddam Hussein recently said he would take any fight with US forces to the streets of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities.
The US threats of war toward Iraq have grown louder in the last month, with Vice President Mr Dick Cheney and other officials laying out the Mr Bush administration's case in recent speeches.