The United Nations is to hold a new round of talks with Iraq regarding the possible return of weapons inspectors.

Annan: Hopes Iraq will have "positive news"

The talks, due to take place 4 and 5 July, will be held in Vienna, not New York as before, after Iraqi officials complained that the United States held up their visa applications.

Previous talks between Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan were held in March and May this year.

UN weapons inspectors first went into Iraq following the 1991 Gulf War, and spent seven years performing inspections on nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

Military consequences

They left in 1998 shortly before Britain and the United States resumed air strikes and Iraq has not permitted them to return to the country.

After the last round of talks in May Mr Annan said he hoped that the Iraqi delegation would return to the table with "some positive news".

And in comments made earlier this week, Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said that he hoped talks with the UN secretary general would help "to reach a working mechanism aimed at lifting the unjust embargo and ending the suffering of the Iraqi people," the Associated Press news agency reported.

The US has threatened military consequences if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein does not comply with the inspections, and has made it clear it would like to see Mr Hussein resumed from power.

The UN Security Council has also said that sanctions imposed on Iraq following its invasion of Kuwait will not be lifted until Iraq's arsenal has been dismantled, although the Iraqis say they have complied.