LONDON - Oil prices climbed Monday as top U.N. arms inspectors and Iraqi arms experts were set to hold crucial talks as the United States and Britain stepped up pressure on Saddam Hussein. London Brent crude futures were trading 27 cents stronger at $29.15 a barrel while U.S. light crude gained 26 cents at $30.80.
All eyes were on Vienna, where U.N. weapons inspectors and Iraqi arms experts prepared to meet on ways for the inspectors to return to Baghdad in a bid to ward off a full-scale military attack by the United States. Sunday, U.N. chief inspector Hans Blix met nuclear weapons experts from the U.N.'s Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) ahead of Monday's meeting with the Iraqis.
He declined to disclose any details of his plans or strategy, saying the U.N. Security Council had asked him to keep his cards close to his chest. Blix said Monday he expected his team to have unlimited access during inspections when they return to Iraq after a nearly four year absence. The talks are the first test of Iraq's cooperation since Baghdad agreed on September 16 to the unconditional return of the inspectors under threat of a U.S. military strike.
Sunday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, President Bush's closest ally against Baghad, said he would not rule out an attack against Iraq even if the U.N. refused to back it. Washington and London are trying to push through a tough new U.S.-drafted resolution that threatens military action and rewrites the ground rules for the inspectors.
Oil dealers were dissecting every twist in the Iraq standoff, which has added a hefty premium to oil prices. "I think Saddam will put on a charm offensive now to avoid an attack," said Jay Saunders of Deutsche Bank. U.S. intelligence officials believe Iraqi President Saddam Hussein already has given his field commanders authority to use biological and chemical weapons in the event of a U.S. invasion, prompting a planned Pentagon campaign to deter Iraqi officers from using such weapons, The Washington Post reported Monday.
Citing defense and intelligence officials, the newspaper said the campaign would include massive leafleting of Iraqi military positions but also might use covert techniques to carry the U.S. message to Iraqi officers. Further support for prices came from Tropical Storm Lili, which was on a path that would take it across Cuba into the Gulf of Mexico Tuesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.//