BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iraq inspectors find 'suspect material'

Weapons experts in Iraq have found large quantities of illegally smuggled materials, chief inspector Hans Blix has said.

But they have not yet determined if they are related to weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear bombs or chemical warfare, Mr Blix said in a BBC interview.

Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix
I will not tailor any report for political purposes

Hans Blix
He said inspectors were spreading their net after receiving fresh Western intelligence - but needed more concrete information on the location of suspect sites.

Dr Blix is due to submit the first report on inspections to the Security Council on 27 January - and that could be a possible trigger for US-led war against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

The chief inspector said he would present to the Council a set of key remaining disarmament tasks by the end of March - unless his work was interrupted by war.

"There is a certain momentum in the [military] build-up and that worries a great many people including myself," he said.

"Yet I have to listen to what the president of the United States says, namely that the use of force is only the method of last resort."

Click here for maps showing the military build-up

US President George W Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair indicated on Monday they had no set timetable for war.

Both countries have been increasing their military presence in the Gulf, but experts say they may not be ready for action before March.

Test

Mr Blix said Western leaders had to make up their minds if they wanted the peaceful and cheaper option of disarming Iraq through inspections - without a 100% guarantee - or whether they preferred the costly option of war.

He said he would not "tailor any reports for political purposes".

Mr Blix said his inspectors were now testing some of the Western intelligence they had been given.

Iraq navigator:
Click here to explore Saddam Hussein's Iraq for yourself.

The head of the Unmovic [UN inspectors] team on the ground, Dimitris Perrikos, said the new sites would also test the Iraqi co-operation.

"It's true the Iraqis are opening doors, but they are opening installations they know we are aware of. The real test will be when we start going to facilities where they will be surprised," Mr Perrikos told the Greek daily Ta Nea on Monday.

Military build-up

A spokesman for the US president said on Monday that Mr Bush thought it important that the inspectors had time to do their jobs.

KEY DATES
16 Jan - Chief UN inspector Hans Blix briefs EU
19 Jan - Blix meets top Iraqi officials in Baghdad
27 Jan - First full report on inspections presented to UN
29 Jan - UN discusses report
Mid-Feb - Estimated 150,000 US troops in Gulf
15 Feb - Anti-war protests across Europe
End of March - Blix submits "key remaining disarmament tasks"
"The president has not put an exact timetable on [action]," he said.

Mr Blair had a similar assurance on Monday.

A BBC correspondent says the deployments could simply give the US more options - by being ready to launch a war before the punishing heat of the Iraq summer but not being committed to it.

The USA Today newspaper - quoting an unnamed US defence official - said key US administration officials still believed war was the only option.

But the timing of an invasion had slipped from mid-February to the end of February or early March due to logistical problems in shifting a huge land, sea and air force, the newspaper reported.