The US government has asked chief UN arms inspector Dr Hans Blix to withdraw his team from Iraq.
"I can confirm that on Sunday evening Dr Blix received a telephone call from the US government advising him to withdraw the UNMOVIC inspectors from Iraq," the spokesman said.
Dr Blix is chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC).
The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency hs also been advised to pull all his weapons inspectors from Iraq.
"Late last night I was advised by the US government to pull out our inspectors from Baghdad. Similar advice has been given to UNMOVIC," International Atomic Energy Agency chief Dr Mohamed ElBaradei told a meeting of the agency's board of governors in a text prepared for delivery today.
He said that he had immediately informed the president of the UN Security Council and asked for guidance. He also informed UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. UNMOVIC is a UN agency looking for weapons of mass destruction.
UN officials in Baghdad said said inspectors in Iraq can"leave on short notice," but expect to receive an eventualevacuation order only after a meeting of the UN Security Council due at 3 p.m. Irish time today.
"There is no evacuation order yet, and should there be one, it would come after the Security Council session," a UN official said.An evacuation order could come as of 9.00 p.m. New York time (2.00 a.m. Irish time), he added.
The inspectors' spokesman, Hiro Ueki, later said the disarmament teams could "leave on a short notice" if given the order by chief inspector Dr Hans Blix.
"We have been prepared to leave on a short notice," he said.
About 135 inspectors remain in Iraq at the present time, a UN source said.
With the threat of war growing, Germany closed its embassy in Baghdad, Russia advised its citizens to leave Iraq and the US State Department ordered non-essential diplomats out of Kuwait, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Damascus.
Agencies