UNITED NATIONS -- Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix told the Security Council on Friday his teams have not uncovered any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq but that Saddam Hussein has not accounted for many banned weapons that his government is suspected of having.
Blix's counterpart, nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei, told the council that inspectors found no evidence Iraq had resumed its nuclear weapons program and said inspectors could do their job without Iraq's full cooperation.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, attending the meeting, ran into stiff resistance as he pressed reluctant allies to threaten force against Iraq and not be taken in by "tricks that are being played on us."
"The threat of force must remain," Powell said, adding that Iraq was strengthening its links with terror groups. "We cannot wait for one of these terrible weapons to turn up in our cities."
China, France and Russia, which all hold veto-power on the council, said inspections were working and should remain in place.
"There is one point of principle that we all must answer: Must the inspectors continue their work in Iraq in the interest of a political settlement? Are the conditions there? Russia answers yes to that question," Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said.
His remarks, like those of French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, were greeted by applause. The rare response caught the council by surprise and led German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer to ask for order inside the chamber.
"Only when we go along the line of political settlement can we truly live up to the trust and hope the international community places in the Security Council," Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan said.
De Villepin said U.N. inspections, which resumed in November after a four-year break, "are producing results" and should continue.
The inspectors spoke at a crucial council meeting that could determine whether the United States gets U.N. backing for military action against Iraq for failing to disarm. The United States and Britain say they are willing to go to war against Iraq without U.N. backing, but would prefer to have it.
With Powell listening from his seat across a horseshoe-shaped table, Blix cast doubt on evidence Powell provided to the council last week claiming that Iraq had cleaned-up suspect sites before inspectors arrived.
Pointing to one case Powell highlighted using satellite photos of a munitions depot, Blix said: "The reported movement of munitions at the site could just as easily have been a routine activity" as one designed to hide banned materials before inspections.
"In no case have we seen convincing evidence that the Iraqi side knew in advance that the inspectors were coming," Blix said.
Hours before the U.N. presentations, Saddam decreed a ban on all weapons of mass destruction from Iraq, a longtime U.N. demand. The White House scoffed at the announcement.
Blix said it was significant that "many proscribed weapons and items are not accounted for."
As an example, he cited a document that suggested some 1,000 tons of chemical agent were unaccounted for. Although he said he could not conclude the chemicals still exited, there was no proof that they had been destroyed."
Blix also reported findings by a panel of experts that one of Iraq's new missile systems exceeds the range limit set by Security Council resolutions.
"The experts concluded that, based on the data provided by Iraq, the two declared variants of the Al Samoud 2 missile were capable of exceeding 150 kilometers (93 miles) in range. This missile system is therefore proscribed for Iraq," Blix said.
Blix said additional information was needed on a second missile, the Al Fatah, before deciding if it was in violation.
Blix said private interviews with three Iraqi scientists "proved informative," but since the interviews conducted in Baghdad on Feb. 8-9 no more had been done in private - "on our terms."
"I hope this will change," he said. "We feel that interviews conducted without any third party present and without tape recording would provide the greatest credibility."
Under intense pressure, Iraq agreed earlier this month to prod scientists to agree to private interviews. Previously, all scientists insisted on being accompanied by an Iraqi official or having their interview tape recorded.
Blix said there were 250 U.N. personnel now in Iraq, including about 115 inspectors. He said there had been more than 400 inspections at 300 sites since the process began in November.
In his report, ElBaradei said, as he did in the previous report, that inspectors found no evidence Iraq had restarted its nuclear weapons program.
In addition, he said, inspectors did not need Iraqi cooperation.
"The IAEA's experience in nuclear verification shows that it is possible, particularly with an intrusive verification system, to assess the presence or absence of a nuclear weapons program in a state even without the full co-operation of the inspected state," ElBaradei said.
ElBaradei said the matter of high-strength aluminum tubes which Iraq tried to import had not been closed. He has said previously that the IAEA believes Iraq intended to use the tubing for conventional rockets.
On Friday he said Iraq provided new documentation on the tubes, a reported attempt to import uranium, the procurement of magnets and magnet production capabilities and the use of the explosive HMX.
"The IAEA has verified that Iraq had indeed been manufacturing such rockets. However, we are still exploring whether the tubes were intended rather for the manufacture of centrifuges for uranium enrichment," he said.
The United States and Britain were waiting to hear from the inspectors before deciding when to present a draft resolution that would either authorize military action or find Iraq in "material breach" of its obligations - a term that Washington and London believe would be enough to justify an attack, according to diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity.
British diplomats had said a draft could be introduced as early as Saturday. Powell and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw were scheduled to meet Friday afternoon with the three other veto-holding permanent council members - France, Russia and China - and then with the 10 elected members.
"There are a number of options," said Britain's U.N. Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock. "I think there will be a last-minute decision."
France could also decide to submit its proposal to triple the number of inspectors, diplomats said.
After the 1991 Gulf War, inspectors oversaw the destruction of the bulk of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons and dismantled the country's program to develop nuclear weapons.
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