Iraq softens line on inspections

IRAQ signalled a softer stance on UN weapons inspectors in a renewed bid to stave off a threatened US assault.

Russia reiterated its opposition to US strikes on Baghdad, telling Iraq that it wanted inspections resumed and an eventual end to UN sanctions imposed for Iraq’s 1990 seizure of Kuwait.

Perhaps seeking to exploit the Bush administration’s failure to speak with one voice on Iraq, Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said Baghdad had not ruled out a return of the inspectors, who left in 1998 ahead of a US-British bombing blitz.