UNITED NATIONS, Sept 13: Iraq rejected on Friday the unconditional return of UN arms inspectors as US President George W. Bush said he was “highly doubtful” Baghdad would meet his disarmament demands, bringing the high-octane confrontation into sharp focus.

With US Secretary of State Colin Powell consulting his counterparts on the UN Security Council, Bush made clear he wanted swift movement on a tough new resolution requiring Iraq to disarm, urging UN action in “days and weeks”.

Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz raised the stakes on Friday in the ballooning international crisis.

“The return of inspectors without conditions will not solve the problem ... because we have had a bad experience with them,” Aziz told Dubai-based Arab satellite station MBC in an interview. “Is it clever to repeat an experience that failed and did not prevent aggression?”

The White House said that Aziz’s rejection meant that Iraq had “something to hide.”

UN weapons inspectors responsible for accounting for Iraq’s nuclear, chemical, biological and ballistic weapons were pulled out of Iraq in December 1998 on the eve of US-British bombing raids and have not been permitted to return.—Reuters