LONDON, 5 August — Chances of a diplomatic solution to the US standoff with Iraq appeared remote yesterday as a senior US Democrat, who chaired the first public hearings on possible invasion plans, said war was now likely.

Hans Blix, the UN’s chief weapons inspector, was meanwhile quoted underlining his unwillingness to enter into negotiations with Iraq on terms for sending UN weapons inspectors back in. He also cautioned that such talks, if they foundered, could do more harm than good.

Sen. Joseph Biden, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that President Bush had to do more to make the case for a military campaign to topple the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein. But he conceded that the momentum toward a war was picking up.

Commenting after last week’s important hearings on Capitol Hill on Iraq, he said: “I believe there probably will be a war with Iraq. The only question is, is it alone, is it with others and how long and how costly will it be?”

Ambassadors at the UN Security Council are due to discuss with Secretary General Kofi Annan today an Iraqi invitation to Blix to hold technical talks in Baghdad, which hinted that Iraq would accept the return of the arms monitors after a four-year break. Annan on Friday expressed his own concerns that Baghdad was trying to negotiate the terms of the inspectors’ mission, while the US and Britain dismissed the Iraqi offer.

The unexpected overture came in a letter from Iraq’s Foreign Minister, Naji Sabri. Delivered Thursday to Annan, it hinted at a new willingness by Iraq to welcome back the inspectors, who have been absent from Iraq since December 1998, if Blix agreed to travel to Baghdad.

However, the letter also asked for talks first on what the inspectors would do exactly, which UN officials view as unacceptable. It was warmly welcomed by Russia, which encouraged Blix to accept the invitation, but President Bush said Saturday that as far as he was concerned, “nothing’s changed.”

Blix underscored his own disinclination to begin negotiations on the terms of the inspectors’ mission in an interview with the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper. His remarks, made before Baghdad sent its letter, stated that Iraq would have to invite the inspectors back in unconditionally, before he would consider entering any further detailed talks.

“I think they have to say that they accept the return of weapons inspectors according to the resolutions of the Security Council,” Blix was quoted as saying in yesterday’s edition of the paper. He added that he did not want to “build expectations with no foundation.” “The situation would be much worse if I went to Baghdad and then talks broke down. We don’t want that.

The state-owned Iraqi media meanwhile denounced Britain and the United States and urged the UN to accept the offer of talks with Blix. “All members of the United Nations must fulfill their responsibilities and stand up to this destructive, aggressive American tendency and strongly back Iraq’s new initiative...to eliminate all doubts and reveal the fabricated American-British lies,” the Iraqi Al-Thawra newspaper said.

The top diplomat of Oman used a visit to Tehran yesterday to express strong opposition to any US-led military action against Iraq. Yussef ibn Alawi ibn Abdullah, Oman’s minister of state for foreign affairs, said on arrival for a visit to Iran: “Our position is the same, ruling out any military option against an Arab and Muslim country. We are opposed to an attack on Iraq or any other Muslim state because we think that any differences with regard to the Middle East must be resolved under UN auspices.” (The Independent)