The United States has joined other members of the U.N. Security Council in supporting a second round of talks between the United Nations and Iraq on weapons inspections, but says the process must move quickly. 

U.N. resolutions call for sanctions to remain in place until inspectors certify that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction - nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, or ballistic missiles. The sanctions were put in place after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. 

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan briefed the Council Friday on his discussions the previous day with Iraq's foreign minister, Naji Sabri, about resuming weapons inspections that ended more than three years ago. 

Mr. Annan says the current talks are only a start, but he feels it is significant that weapons inspections were discussed in the presence of experts from both sides. He said Iraq presented a list of specific questions asking for clarifications - not presented as preconditions. 

Among Baghdad's concerns was how the United Nations could guarantee that its new arms inspectors would not also be spying for the United States. Iraq also inquired about the removal of sanctions, and an end to no-fly zones enforced by U.S. and British warplanes. 

In Baghdad, Iraq's Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan charged that the U.S. and Britain want the inspectors back in Iraq to find excuses for a fresh attack. But, a speech to an Arab conference, Mr. Ramadan said he hopes the U.N. talks will have beneficial results that, in his words, will spare the world new problems and difficulties. 

The last inspection team left Iraq before U.S. and British planes began a bombing campaign in December of 1998. Baghdad has refused to allow inspectors to return since then. 

The next round of U.N. talks with Iraq are to be held in mid-April. U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations James Cunningham says Iraq should have allowed U.N. weapons inspections to resume long ago, and there must be no further delay now. 

President Bush has described Iraq as part of an "axis of evil" that supports terrorism. He says Baghdad must allow weapons inspectors to enter Iraq, or face the consequences. 

Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters

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