Iraqi Foreign Minister Mr Naji Sabri held what he called "positive and constructive" talks today with UN Secretary General Mr Kofi Annan on the possible return of UN arms inspectors to Iraq.
"We started our discussion with the secretary general in a positive and constructive atmosphere and we shall continue this afternoon," Mr Sabri told reporters after leaving Mr Annan's office.
The meeting - held against a background of US military threats - was the first contact with officials from Baghdad since two days of inconclusive talks ended on February 27th last year and lasted for a little over two hours.
"The first 20 minutes were a tete-a-tete between the secretary general and the foreign minister," UN associate spokeswoman Ms Marie Okabe said.
She said the two sides would resume for one hour at 3 p.m. (8 p.m. Irish time). Mr Annan told reporters before the meeting that friendly governments "sense some flexibility on the part of Iraq".
In contrast to views expressed by US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell, Mr Annan said "the eventual suspension of sanctions" should be discussed if Iraq was willing to meet UN Security Council demands.
"We will be pressing for the return of the inspectors," he said, noting that the Iraqi team included "a disarmament expert", Mr Hossan Amin, a former general and head of Iraq's national monitoring directorate.
The Security Council has demanded that UN inspectors be allowed to resume work to assess Iraq's claim that it dismantled its weapons of mass destruction after being forced out of Kuwait in the 1991 Gulf War.
It has said there is no question of removing the comprehensive sanctions imposed on Iraq after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait until it is satisfied that Iraq has disarmed.
Mr Annan's team included Mr Hans Blix, chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) which was set up in December 1999 but has not been allowed to enter Iraq.
Members of the former inspectorate, known as UNSCOM, were withdrawn one year earlier on the eve of a bombing campaign by US and British warplanes and Iraq has refused to allow them to return.
Threats of a new, massive US strike have multiplied since the September 11th terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, with US President George W. Bush describing Iraq as part of an "axis of evil".
In remarks published today in Baghdad, Iraq's deputy prime minister, Mr Tareq Aziz, said "US and British attacks are expected... and we have taken the necessary preparations to face up to them."
Mr Annan said he did not want to see "a widening conflict in the region" on top of the "tragedy that is going on there already" - a reference to the bloody Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"We want to see a situation where we are able to resolve our differences diplomatically and that Iraq comes into compliance," he said.
The United States has made clear its disapproval of the Annan-Sabri talks, and Mr Powell said last month that Mr Annan's role should be limited to reminding Iraq that it must meet the UN's demands.
But, Mr Annan told reporters, "if we are talking about implementation of Security Council resolutions, the eventual suspension of sanctions, once Iraq has performed, is part of the discussion."
In an apparent attempt to undermine Iraqi claims on the very eve of the talks, US officials released satellite photos and video-clips which they alleged showed that Iraq had diverted vehicles from a UN humanitarian programme to its army.
The pictures were shown to members of the Security Council committee that vets imports under the oil-for-food programme, set up in December 1996 to soften the impact of sanctions on ordinary Iraqis.
One US diplomat said the pictures showed hundreds of trucks, some of them converted to carry heavy artillery, others stripped for spare parts, notably their hydraulic systems which "can be used as part of a missile component".
Other committee members said, however, that they were not convinced by the slideshow and that more information was needed.
AFP