Iraq refuses the return of UN inspectors

Iraqi vice- President Taha Yassin Ramadan has announced that the return of the UN inspectors to Iraq is impossible.

News reports quoted Ramadan as saying in an interview with the Russian daily " Fremia Novosti " issued on Monday that the UN Security Council and the US will not accept at all the lifting of sanctions imposed on Iraq and "we, by this, can at least, protect our security."

Ramadan explained that UN inspectors had collected information and left Iraq in 1998.