Iraq is offering to hold an unconditional dialogue with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa passed this message to Mr. Annan during their meeting in New York Monday. Mr. Moussa was in Iraq last month. Mr. Annan said he is ready to meet with an Iraqi delegation to discuss implementation of relevant Security Council resolutions.

Baghdad has consistently demanded an end to U.N. economic sanctions imposed after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

The United Nations has said it will not lift sanctions until U.N. inspectors verify that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction or the ability to produce them. Baghdad has refused access to U.N. inspectors for more than three years.

Earlier Monday, Turkish Prime Minster Bulent Ecevit publicly released a letter sent recently to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. It warns that Iraq faces what Mr. Ecevit calls a "new threat," and says Iraq must take urgent action to let U.N. weapons inspectors back into the country.

Bush administration officials have said they would use all means possible, including military action and diplomacy, to counter terrorist threats from Iraq or any other country.

There have been no talks between Iraqi officials and Secretary General Annan since February of last year. Both sides agreed to hold more talks, but Iraq demanded that several conditions be met first, including an end to U.N. sanctions.

Some information for this report provided by AFP and Reuters.

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