HIGHLIGHTS:Baghdad Says UN in Breach of Vienna Agreement||Annan Urges Iraq to Allow in Inspectors Under New Conditions to Be Approve by UN Security Council||Powell Indicates 'Regime Change' Policy Could be Dropped if Saddam Disarms|| STORY: Iraq said the absence of U.N. weapons inspectors in the country after it agreed to their return was America's fault and constituted a breach of agreements it signed with the international body.

A statement released Sunday after a Cabinet meeting headed by President Saddam Hussein said inspectors failed to show up in Iraq at the agreed time on Oct. 19.

It called the move "a breach of the agreement reached between Iraq and the United Nations secretary general on Sept. 16," a reference to Iraq's agreement to resume weapons inspections after a four-year break.

The statement said Iraq holds the United States responsible for the delay and repeated Baghdad's position that there was no need for any new, tougher U.N. Security Council resolutions to govern the inspectors' mandate.

Iraq has been pushing for an advance party to arrive in Baghdad, but chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said last week he will wait for the Security Council to adopt a new resolution. Blix had said that since the council was still debating a resolution, the U.N. team wouldn't be able to deploy by Oct. 19.

The Iraqi Cabinet statement called the delay "illegal," and said it undermined the reputation of the United Nations.

It said any Security Council resolution that goes against the Sept. 16 agreement would mean "that the Security Council does not respect its obligations at a time it is asking others to respect theirs."

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, on a visit to central Asian nations Sunday, repeated his plea that Baghdad allow arms inspectors.

"I expect the Security Council to pass a resolution to strengthen the U.N. inspectors, with whose demands Iraq should comply," he said. "I urge Iraq to heed that call and comply."

Annan said if the inspectors return and report "that Iraq continues to defy the council, I do expect the U.N. to take a decision. I do expect it to be unanimous, in one voice."

POWELL SAYS DISARMING IRAQ IS ENOUGH

Secretary of State Colin Powell, who has spoken of "regime change" in Iraq for at least 18 months, said Sunday the United States might not seek to remove Saddam Hussein if he abandoned his weapons of mass destruction. It was the latest in a series of recent comments by Powell that seemed to back away from the goal of deposing the Iraqi president, which remains Bush administration policy.

He said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he expects the U.N. Security Council to enact a resolution setting strong guidelines for inspection teams to be sent back into Iraq.

PHOTO CAPTION

Iraqi guards try to prevent Iraqis from storming the Abu Ghraib jail 35 kilometers (21 miles) northwest of Baghdad following the annoucement by Saddam Hussein that most prisoners were going to be freed. Tens of thousands of prisoners were greeted by their relatives and friends upon their release throughout Iraq. The government called the amnesty, which includes political prisoners, a way of thanking the nation for re-electing President Saddam Hussein last week in a referendum. (AP Photo/Jerome