LONDON, Aug 18: The United Nations is ready to send inspectors back into Iraq to check for weapons of mass destruction, but only on its terms, chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix said Sunday.

“We are very eager to start inspections,” said Blix in an interview with BBC television, after President Saddam Hussein’s government this week sent new proposals to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

“However, you have to read the small print of any invitation,” he said.

“It seems this was by no means a decision by the Iraqis to invite inspectors, but rather to suggest discussions on what issues were open in 1998” when UN arms inspectors were last in the country, he said.

“We have not been directed by the UN Security Council to do that.”

Blix spoke from New York after Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri replied to a request from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan asking Bagdhad to confirm its readiness to abide by all UN Security Council resolutions.

UN officials said Annan was unlikely to respond to Sabri’s 10- to 12-page letter — which suggests “technical discussions ... to establish the groundwork for the next phase of monitoring and inspection” — before mid-week.

Blix, a Swedish diplomat who heads the UN Monitoring, Verification and Control Commission (UNMOVIC), said: “They want talks first, and in light of the talks maybe decide whether they will invite inspectors.”

“But the (security) council assumes that we will go in and we will take a look for about two months in Iraq, and thereafter identify which are the important issues, and then take them to the council for approval — not to the Iraqis for approval,” he said.

On the threat of a US war on Iraq to overthrow Saddam, Blix said: “I would think that if the Iraqis conclude that an invasion by someone is inevitable, then they might conclude that it’s not very meaningful to have inspection.”—AFP