Iraq agreed in talks last week to allow UN weapons inspectors to decide where and how to interview its citizens, chief inspector Hans Blix said in a letter.The letter did not explicitly say the interviews could be conducted outside Iraq, as demanded by US President George W. Bush in a televised speech Monday.

But it did indicate a concession by the Iraqi authorities, who in the past insisted on monitoring conversations and sometimes intimidated interviewees.

The 20-paragraph letter dated Tuesday was addressed to Amir El-Sadi, an aide to President Saddam Hussein who led the Iraqi delegation to the talks, held in Vienna. A copy was obtained by AFP.

In it, Blix and International Atomic Energy Agency director Mohamed El-Baradei asked El-Sadi to confirm points of agreement on practical arrangements for resuming inspections in Iraq after a gap of almost four years.

"We shall report accordingly to the Security Council," they wrote.

The main points of the agreement were spelt out by the two UN officials at a joint news conference October 1 with El-Sadi after the two-day meeting, and the letter contained no surprises.

On Thursday, Blix and El-Baradei briefed the council, and were told by the United States their inspectors could not go to Iraq without a tough new mandate.

In his speeh, Bush said inspectors must be empowered to interview Iraqis outside the country, and that the interviewees' families must be able to leave with them.

In their letter, Blix and El-Baradei said the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission which Blix heads and the IAEA "may conduct interviews with any person in Iraq whom they believe may have information relevant to their mandate.

"Iraq will facilitate such interviews. It is for UNMOVIC and the IAEA to choose the mode and location for interviews."

Ambassadors of the five permanent council members earlier met here to discuss the US demands for a new resolution.

Although the five are divided about the use of military action to enforce the council's resolutions, diplomats said there was little disagreement over the right to interview Iraqis outside the country.

France and Russia both said the US demand was acceptable, provided that the inspectors had full discretion, they said.

The diplomats said no permanent member had yet submitted a draft resolution for discussion and the ambassadors were unlikely to meet again before Thursday, when the US Congress is expected to vote to authorise Bush to send US troops into action against Iraq.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said he was in intense talks with French and Russian counterparts over their resistance to using the threat of force against Iraq.

"The Iraqis are not going to do anything unless there is pressure," Powell said. "It would be better for this pressure to be contained in one resolution."

Russia and France oppose the threat of force against Iraq in any new resolution.

Other points in the letter by Blix and El-Baradei included the following:

- Inspectors will be granted immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access to sites deemed sensitive in the past, including eight presidential palaces.

- UN officials have the right to determine the number of inspectors required for access to any site.

- "Iraq will ensure that no proscribed material, equipment, records or other relevant items will be destroyed except in the presence of ... inspectors."

- Iraqi authorities will provide free escorts, transport, assistance with moving equipment, and a full-time telephone hotline staffed by an English speaker, along with security for inspectors and their equipment.

- Iraq will guarantee the safety of all air operations outside the no-fly zones and "will take all steps within its control to ensure the safety of such operations" within the zones

- Inspectors will be guaranteed visas on the basis of a UN certificate and neither they nor their baggage will be searched.

PHOTO CAPTION 

U.N. Chief weapons inspector Hans Blix addresses the inspectors at the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, on Monday, Oct. 7, 2002. U.N. weapons inspectors kicked off four weeks of technical training on Monday ahead of their possible redeployment to Iraq for fresh assessment of Saddam Hussein's weapons arsenal. (AP Photo/Handout/United Nations Information Servic