BAGHDAD, Sept 24: Iraq will give UN arms inspectors “unfettered access” to suspected weapons sites, including those listed by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, presidential adviser Amr Saadi said on Tuesday.

“Inspectors will have unfettered access” after practical arrangements are made for their mission, which is expected to start in mid-October “if there is no interference from outside parties,” he said at a news conference.

The inspectors would be asked to give priority to sites mentioned by Blair, said Saadi in reaction to the British government’s release on Tuesday of a dossier on Iraq’s arsenal.

Blair should pass on his dossier to UNMOVIC, the commission in charge of Iraq’s disarmament, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) so that the truth would come out, Saadi said.

“Iraq does not want to go back to (developing) weapons of mass destruction, and this is a final decision,” Saadi said.

“We challenge any side to come up with evidence that we have resumed our activities in pursuing weapons of mass destruction,” he said.

Saadi also dismissed as “absolute nonsense” Britain’s charge that Iraq could be as little as a year away from having a nuclear bomb.

“This is nonsense, absolute nonsense,” Saadi said.

In the dossier, London alleged that Baghdad could be a year or two away from having a nuclear bomb, and could deploy chemical and biological weapons within 45 minutes of giving the order, claims Saadi described as preposterous.

He said London released the dossier to “incite domestic and world public opinion against Iraq”, pave the way for the adoption of new “unfair” UN Security Council resolutions and set the stage for US-led military action.

“We expect a strike any time ... The war continues daily against Iraq (in the northern and southern “no-fly” zones). Our air force defences continue to respond. We are bracing for and expect an aggression any time,” Saadi said.

The Iraqi official said Baghdad had rebuilt the components of its conventional military industry, chiefly its defences, but not weapons that are prohibited.

Iraq’s capacity to produce weapons of mass destruction had been dismantled by UNSCOM, the former arms commission, with the cooperation of Baghdad, Saadi said.

More than 250 arms experts from some 45 countries were expected to come to Iraq, with an advance team due in mid-October “if there is no interference from outside parties”, he said.

He was referring to US attempts to obtain a new tough Security Council resolution sanctioning the use of force if Iraq did not comply with disarmament and possibly other obligations, a move Baghdad has already said it would reject.

Asked if the inspectors would have access to presidential sites, Saadi said Baghdad would allow them into these sites in keeping with an agreement on the modalities of such inspections reached with UN chief Kofi Annan in 1998.

Iraq last week agreed to readmit the inspectors for the first time in nearly four years amid US threats to launch a military offensive aimed at ousting the Iraqi government.

UN_BAGHDAD TALKS: The United Nations is to hold talks with Iraq in Vienna on Sept 30 and Oct 1 on the return of weapons inspectors to the country, the UN said.