UN ends Iraq weapons inspections

The United Nations Security Council has voted to immediately close down its inspection bodies that played a pivotal role in monitoring Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction programmes under Saddam Hussein’s regime.

In what the US and Iraq hailed as a “historic day”, the resolution terminating the mandate of the UN bodies responsible for overseeing the dismantling of Saddam’s programmes to develop nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and long-range missiles was approved by a vote of 14-0, with Russia abstaining.