The United States yesterday called for a strong international diplomatic response as Iraq stepped up its defiance of the UN by preventing a team of inspectors from carrying out searches for banned weapons.
A White House spokesman said Iraq's "non-compliance is completely unacceptable . . . We will not allow Iraq access to resources necessary to restart their weapons of mass destruction programme". However, the US does not seem to be contemplating an immediate military response. Iraq's latest act of obstruction came as the Security Council and UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, heard from Mr Richard Butler, the chief UN weapons inspector, on his failed talks in Baghdad at the beginning of the week. The council is expected to issue a demand for Iraq to resume its co-operation with Unscom, the UN special commission supervising the destruction of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
The US and Britain are expected to push for a stronglyworded statement while Russia, France and China can be expected to try and tone down any rebuke.
The council met one day after President Saddam Hussein froze co-operation with inspectors in protest at eight years of economic sanctions, reneging on an agreement signed with Mr Annan in February that averted American and British air strikes. In that memorandum of understanding, Iraq pledged to "co-operate fully" with Unscom and the International Atomic Energy Agency and to grant them "unconditional and unrestricted access" to sites in Iraq.
"Iraq took a policy decision to stop co-operating with Unscom in August 1997 because it saw no end to crippling sanctions whether it worked with Unscom or not," said Mr Khalil Matar, a Middle East analyst. "But diplomatic efforts by France and Russia have managed to delay a confrontation."
Divisions within the Security Council began to surface even before Mr Butler's return to New York. Mr Yuri Fedotov, Russia's deputy representative at the UN, implied that Mr Butler bore some responsibility for the breakdown.
"This decision we understand was taken by the chairman of Unscom without duly consulting the secretary general and Security Council," said Mr Fedotov.
Russia and France also blame the US and Britain for contributing to the latest impasse as they objected to closing Iraq's nuclear file last month. Russia had urged the council to close the file based on an IAEA report which found no evidence of an existing Iraqi nuclear weapons programme although it said many unanswered questions remained.
In its latest challenge to the UN, Iraq is demanding an overhaul of Unscom to lessen British and American influence and in effect the dismissal of Mr Butler, a blunt-speaking Australian diplomat. But Bill Richardson, the US ambassador, rallied to Mr Butler's defence, saying the US stood behind him and Unscom. In his briefing, Mr Butler said he proposed discussing the substantive issues that remained outside the June schedule of work, such as VX nerve gas, concealment and implications of a recently-found document to do with the verification of chemical weapons. According to Mr Butler Iraq's deputy prime minister, Mr Tariq Aziz, rejected both proposals. Mr Aziz also insisted Mr Butler report to the council immediately that there were no more proscribed weapons and related materials in Iraq and that sanctions should be lifted immediately.
Mr Richardson yesterday accused Iraq of repudiating security council resolutions and its memorandum of understanding signed with Mr Annan and he called for "an appropriate, strong response." US officials admit, however, that the Clinton administration has little appetite for military action because of a lack of international support, apart from Britain.
In Iraq, a team of inspectors was stopped from carrying out its work because government officials refused to accompany it. In the past, the Iraqis have withheld escorts as a way of impeding UN inspections, usually carried out as surprise visits. The UN team was not allowed to conduct "discussions with Iraqi authorities on arms or visits to sites or searches for past weapons," Iraqi officials said.