UNITED NATIONS, 23 February 2003 — Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix has issued an ultimatum to Iraq to start destroying its stock of banned missiles within a week but according to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed El-Baradei, Baghdad is still not cooperating fully over arms inspections.

By imposing a deadline of March 1 for Baghdad to begin the demolition of its Al-Samud 2 missiles and warheads, Blix has thrown down the gauntlet for Iraq to provide rapid proof of its good faith and willingness to comply with UN demands on disarmament.

The ultimatum is being viewed as a key test of the assertion by diplomatic sources in Baghdad that “the Iraqis are ready to respond to all of Blix’s demands”.

Earlier this week, the head of one of Iraq’s missile factories said 50 Al-Samuds had been delivered to the Iraqi Army and another 50 were on the assembly line.

Blix told the UN Security Council on Feb. 14 that two declared variants of the Al-Samud were banned under Council Resolution 687, which imposed a 150-kilometer (93-mile) limit on the range of Iraqi ballistic missiles.

The resolution, which defined the terms of the Gulf War cease-fire in April 1991, required Iraq to scrap missiles beyond that range — along with its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons — under international supervision.

However, in Tehran, where he is on a delicate mission to inspect Iranian sites Washington suspects are hiding a nuclear weapons program, El-Baradei said: “We have not yet finished our work and Iraq is not yet fully cooperating with us.

“We particularly don’t have full access to Iraqi scientists and we hope that Iraq will cooperate in the coming weeks.”

US President George W. Bush was holding talks with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, one of his strongest supporters on Iraq, at his Texas ranch to discuss the wording of the latest UN resolution.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair had a 30-minute private audience with Pope John Paul II, one of the staunchest opponents of military strikes on Baghdad, at the Vatican.

The head of the Roman Catholic Church urged Blair to make “every effort” to avoid going to war against Iraq as he came face-to-face with a leading protagonist of a military assault on Baghdad for the first time.

Turkey was nearing an agreement with Washington for use of its strategic bases, ports and territory in an invasion.

Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis had said in Ankara that the two nations were “quite close” to a deal that would open his country to US troops and materiel, providing a vital northern flank for any invasion of neighboring Iraq. “If there is a will, this could be finalized by working on Saturday and Sunday,” he said.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak expressed fears that it was already too late to avoid a war in Iraq, as American and British troops in the region were already on a war footing. “American and British troops are already on a war footing in the region, that’s a big problem. Will they be prepared to withdraw if Saddam Hussein shows that he no longer has weapons of mass destruction?” he said in an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer called for non-military methods to be used to resolve the crisis over Iraq, stressing that such methods had not yet been adequately tried.