"Iraq cannot be trusted to disarm, but only the UN Security Council can decide when to end arms inspections", top UN arms inspector Hans Blix said in an interview made public.The inspection process is taking longer than expected but should be allowed to continue if Iraq cooperates in a meaningful way, Blix told Time magazine in an interview published Sunday.

"Of course they have no credibility. If they had any, they certainly lost it in 1991. I don't see that they have acquired any credibility," Blix said.

"There has to be solid evidence of everything, and if there is not evidence or you can't find it, I simply say sorry, I don't find any evidence and I cannot guarantee or recommend any confidence. It might be there, it might not be there."

Blix refused to say however if Iraq was in material breach of UN Security Council Resolution 1441, which gave Baghdad a final chance to disarm under threat of possible military action when it was unanimously approved November 8.

"In the last resort, this is a political decision" for the council to make, he said.

Blix is due to report to the council by Saturday on the inspectors' progress. Saturday also is the deadline set by Blix for Iraq to destroy its stock of al-Samoud 2 missiles, which UN inspectors have determined exceed the permitted 150-kilometer (93-mile) range limits.

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Hans Blix