Iraq today invited chief UN weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei to visit Baghdad at the “earliest suitable date” to speed up joint cooperation on outstanding disarmament issues, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The United States has rejected out of hand a proposal by Chile to give Saddam Hussein a last chance to disarm peacefully, leaving no compromise in sight and casting further doubt on any United Nations backing for war.

UN arms inspectors yesterday said they had withdrawn two U-2 reconnaissance planes over Iraq for safety reasons after Baghdad complained both aircraft were in the air simultaneously.

Iraq has allowed another flight by a US U-2 spy plane as President Saddam Hussein’s government sought to convince the world that it is co-operating with UN weapons inspectors.

An American U-2 surveillance plane has made its first flight over Iraq in support of the current UN inspection mission, marking another concession by President Saddam Hussein’s regime to stave off a US-led attack.

The chief UN weapons inspectors will return to Baghdad on February 8 for last-minute talks before their next Security Council report on the hunt for banned weapons in Iraq, Iraqi and UN officials said today.

Top UN arms inspectors said they would not agree to new talks in Baghdad unless Iraq demonstrated more cooperation and met unspecified conditions. One hinted it might be necessary to meet Saddam Hussein to resolve the crisis.

Saddam Hussein apparently moved to cool the war of words between Baghdad and Washington today, saying the Iraqi people should welcome the UN arms inspectors.

Iraq’s vice president has accused United Nations weapons inspectors of spying for the US and Israel, after a surprise inspection of one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces.

United Nations inspectors were getting down to work today after their four-year absence, meeting Iraqi officials and making plans to once again start searching for hidden chemical, nuclear and biological weapons.