Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix, giving a report which could be crucial to whether war is waged on Iraq, said on Friday that banned Iraqi weapons still were unaccounted for and Baghdad must detail the status of anthrax and VX stocks and long-range missiles. Blix also told a tense meeting of the U.N. Security Council that two versions of Iraq's al Samoud 2 missile exceed the maximum range of 93 miles set by the United Nations , "The issues of anthrax, the nerve agent VX and long-range missiles (are) ... perhaps the most important problem we are facing. Iraq itself must squarely tackle this task and avoid belittling the questions," he said.

But Blix, reporting to the council on the progress his inspectors have made in Iraq since last November, said he had no convincing evidence that Iraq had advance knowledge that the inspectors were coming and that his teams were "effectively helping to bridge the gap in knowledge."

Just hours before the report was delivered, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein decreed a ban on importing or making weapons of mass destruction, in at least a symbolic gesture to meet one of the demands that Blix and nuclear weapons inspector Mohamed ElBaradei made when they visited Baghdad in mid-January.

"Individuals and companies in private and mixed sectors are banned from importing and producing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons," the presidential decree read. Saddam also reiterated that Iraq was free of any such weapons, a claim the United States rejects.

One of the demands of the Council and more recently Blix and ElBaradei was for Iraq to adopt national legislation banning anyone from working on weapons of mass destruction.

As the inspectors reported, the U.S. military said aircraft taking part in U.S.-British patrols attacked Iraqi missile systems in the southern "no-fly" zone on Friday, the fifth strike on Iraqi targets in a week.

The strikes came as U.S. and British forces massed in the Gulf region for a possible invasion of Iraq.

CONVINCING EVIDENCE NEEDED

After inspectors had examined evidence found in the search for chemical and biological weapons, including analyzing earth samples from some sites, Blix said in his report: "The results to date been consistent with Iraqi declarations."

But he said Iraqi cooperation "means more than opening doors" and Baghdad was obliged to actively present "convincing evidence" that they have eliminated all biological and chemical weapons programs and materials.

Iraq had accepted an offer by South Africa to send a group of experts for further talks on how to disarm, Blix said.

At issue is whether the United States and Britain can follow up Friday's meeting with a fresh U.N. resolution explicitly or implicitly authorizing war amid deepening rifts not only on the Security Council, but also within NATO and the European Union .

Millions of people were expected to take to the streets of towns and cities around the world at the weekend to demonstrate against a looming U.S.-led war on Iraq in the biggest peace protests since the Vietnam war. More than 100,000 anti-war activists turned out in Melbourne to kick off the protests.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair , at odds with major European partners France and Germany and in danger of alienating many within his own ruling Labour Party, is anxious to give any use of military force international legitimacy.

France, Russia and China, who also wield a veto on the 15-member Council, as well as Germany, Syria and other members, want to beef up inspections, triple the number of arms experts and send in U.N. security guards to "freeze" suspected sites.

U.N. inspectors, meanwhile, pushed ahead in their three-month-old hunt for banned weapons, traveling to at least four military and industrial installations outside Baghdad, Iraqi officials said.

Iraq said earlier it hoped the Blix and ElBaradei reports would not serve as ammunition for Washington to drive ahead with military action. "What they will say has dangerous consequences. America is waiting to seize and exaggerate the negative to serve its plans and belligerent goals," said the al-Thawra newspaper, a mouthpiece of Saddam's ruling Baath party.

AZIZ MEETS POPE

Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister, Tareq Aziz, made his case against war in a meeting with Pope John Paul at the Vatican on Friday and delivered a personal message from Saddam to the leader of the world's one billion Roman Catholics.

Aziz, a Christian, assured the Pope Iraq would cooperate over disarmament, the Vatican said. The Pope said Iraq had to "faithfully respect" U.N. resolutions and international law.

A French official attached to Blix's U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspections Commission (UNMOVIC), said she had expected Blix to highlight some progress in Iraqi cooperation.

"Hans Blix considers there is regular progress on all matters relating to procedures, but on disarmament itself progress is extraordinarily weak," Therese Delpech told Europe 1 radio on Friday.

Much will hinge on the interpretation Security Council members give to what Blix and ElBaradei say.

The United States and Britain hope to get the minimum nine votes in favor of a fresh resolution, while France is lobbying to ensure Washington will not achieve the minimum votes and spare it having to use its veto.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Friday he was "fairly confident" the Council would pass a fresh resolution.

Echoing similar comments by Bush, Straw told BBC radio the "effectiveness and authority of the United Nations could be at stake" if it failed to follow up its commitments.

FRANCE AND GERMANY

But France, which with Germany and Belgium have blocked planning by NATO to help fellow alliance member Turkey with war preparations, insists military force to make Iraq disarm should only be used as a last resort.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, in New York for the Security Council session, said Moscow opposed a new resolution.

"Ahead of us there are problems the solution of which will be...difficult," Ivanov said, adding the world community "should not split, but unite."

In Tehran, senior conservative cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Emami-Kashani told worshipers at Friday prayers a U.S. attack on Iraq would sound the death knell of the United Nations.

PHOTO CAPTION

Dr. Hans Blix, chairman of the United Nations Monitoring Verification and Inspection Commission, addresses the United Nations Security Council at U.N. headquarters, February 14, 2003. Blix said Iraq had failed to account for many proscribed weapons and must explain what happened to suspected stocks of anthrax, VX gas and long-range missiles. (Peter Morgan/Reuter