Iraq's firing on US and British aircraft enforcing "no-fly" zones in Iraq is not a violation of the latest Security Council resolution, UN Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan said today.
Contradicting the United States's interpretation of Resolution 1441 on Iraq adopted two weeks ago, Mr Annan indicated the Security Council would not see such action by Iraq as a trigger for war.
"Let me say that I don't think that the Council will say this is in contravention of the resolution of the Security Council," Mr Annan said when asked if Iraq was violating 1441 by firing at alliance planes, as Washington contends.
Earlier, US planes bombed targets in Iraq for the second day running.
US administration officials said Iraq had attacked Allied aircraft patrolling the no-fly-zone and that Iraq was in breach of the UN resolution to disarm.
Secretary of Defence Mr Donald Rumsfeld said the four incidents of no-fly-zone firing in the past few days are unacceptable. But he said the US is waiting for a clear pattern of violations by Iraq before pursuing a showdown in the UN.
White House deputy spokesman Mr Scott McClellan condemned the Iraqi attacks as "a violation that would constitute a material breach" of the UN resolution.
UN inspectors got down to work in Iraq after a four-year break today, talking to Iraqi officials and dusting out their old offices as they prepared to vet hundreds of potential sites for weapons of mass destruction.
But, the day after chief UN arms inspector Mr Hans Blix and a team of 30 experts arrived in Baghdad, the state-run Iraqi press struck a pessimistic note, saying their efforts would not stop the United States from attacking Iraq.
"The problem is not related to the arrival of the inspectors or starting their work in Iraq," al-Iraqnewspaper said. "The American regime wants to launch an aggression under the pretext that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction".