Inspections to take six months
A UN source also said the military build-up around Iraq was not counter-productive and showed the international community was serious about war if Iraq did not co-operate with the inspectors.
"We are operating on the basis of timelines that have been provided to us in (UN Security Council) resolutions 1284 and 1441," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said. "Those timelines will require somewhere between six and 12 months before we're in a position where the Security Council might suspend sanctions (if no weapons are found)," he said, referring to the 12-year sanctions against Baghdad.
Another UN source said "we're probably looking at the beginning of August at the earliest" for suspending sanctions.
Speaking in Paris, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei acknowledged the growing impatience in the Security Council over the lack of concrete results in inspections so far.
"There is a great deal of anxiousness that we need to finish our job, our mission, as soon as possible," he said after meeting French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin. "We need to take a few months. How long depends on the cooperation of Iraq."
When asked if the period of a year quoted by the IAEA spokesman was conservatively lengthy, ElBaradei agreed.
If and when UN sanctions against Iraq are suspended and eventually lifted weapons inspectors will have to present a plan to the Security Council for an indefinite monitoring programme in Iraq.
