LONDON, Jan 30: The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog said on Thursday arms inspectors had not found a gross violation of a UN resolution on disarmament in Iraq as yet, but urged Baghdad to do more to cooperate with the UN mission.

Mohamed ElBaradei of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told BBC Radio his inspectors would only report Iraq to be in breach if there were a “gross violation” of the UN resolution, not for sluggish cooperation.

The United States and Britain have accused Iraq of obstructing the work of the U.N. arms inspectors, saying such behaviour amounts to a “material breach” of Security Council resolution 1441, a term seen as a legal green light for war.

Asked on BBC Radio whether non-cooperation constituted a material breach, ElBaradei said: “If they (the Security Council) decide that this is a material breach, then that is their prerogative.”

“We are not going to say that this is a material breach unless obviously we see a gross violation of the resolution. But even then it is for the Security Council to pronounce itself on this issue,” he said.

International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors are hunting for evidence Baghdad has revived its secret atomic weapons programme as Washington has alleged, while chief weapons inspector Hans Blix’s teams are looking for traces of chemical, biological and ballistic arms.—Reuters