Inspectors discover Iraqi warheads. Will this be the trigger for war?

The Iraqi crisis flared unexpectedly last night after United Nations weapons inspectors revealed they had discovered a dozen empty chemical warheads in a complex of newly built bunkers.

Officials and diplomats said they could not yet reach any definitive conclusions on the warheads although their discovery gave a sudden jolt tothe stand-off as the United States continued to press the case against Iraq.

"During the course of their inspection, the team discovered 11 empty 122mm chemical warheads and one warhead that requires further evaluation," a UN spokesman, Hiro Ueki, said in a statement issued in Baghdad. Mr Ueki said the warheads were "in excellent condition".

The warheads could provide the first clear evidence since the UN resumed its inspections of Iraq's alleged programme to develop banned weapons, especially if they show signs of chemical residue. Results from the first tests on them should be known today.

"At the least, it might show that inspections are startingto narrow in'' on something, one UN diplomat said. But the UN office in Baghdad said it did not consider the find to be a "smoking gun".

A US official in Washington said the site was not among those pointed out by American intelligence to the UN inspectors. "A smoking gun would be if you found a big stockpile of chemicals," he said. "This raises lots of questions."

Iraq dismissed the discovery as "a storm in a teacup", saying the empty warheads were old artillery rockets mentioned in Iraq's December declaration to the UN. The chief Iraqi liaison officer to the UN teams, General Hussam Mohammad Amin, said: "There are no chemical or biological agents or weapons of mass destruction or links to weapons of mass destruction. These rockets are expired ... They were in closed wooden boxes ... that we had forgotten about."

The UN said the warheads had not been disclosed by Iraq.

Tony Blair reacted cautiously, to avoid accusations of "bouncing" the inspectors. He may receive more information from Hans Blix, the chief UN weapons inspector, when they meet at Chequers today.

Downing Street said: "We note what the spokesman for the UN weapons inspectors has said about their find. We await more information."

Mike O'Brien, a Foreign Office minister, said it was too early to judge the significance of the inspectors' discovery. But he added: "We've always said that Saddam has been concealing things. We'll have to see whether this falls into that particular category, but it's time for Saddam to stop concealing, and start complying with [UN] resolution 1441."

Asked if the find gave Britain and the US a mandate for military action, Patricia Hewitt, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, said: "Of course not, nobody is going to make a judgement on the basis of one day's finds."

Hours before the discovery UN inspectors confronted Iraqi scientists at their homes in Baghdad for the first time. The new, more aggressive stance was thought to be on the basis of new intelligence provided by Washington and London.

News of the discovery reached New York just as the UN Security Council was in a meeting, during which America tried to head off a UN report seen as an obstacle to an early decision on war. Earlier, President George Bush said his patience with Iraq was wearing thin. "It's up to Saddam Hussein to do what the entire world has asked him to do," Mr Bush said. "And time is running out. At some point the United States' patience will run out."

Yesterday's unprecedented foray by the UN inspectors to the homes of Iraqi scientists was in the Ghazaliyeh district of Baghdad. Witnesses said Faleh Hassan, a physicist, left his home with the inspectors and accompanied them to a field outside Baghdad where they inspected what appeared to be a man-made mound .

In a response to the discovery of the warheads, Bernard Jenkin, shadow Defence Secretary, said: "If these reports are true, this find justifies the weapons inspections. These warheads, which are in good condition, were not in Saddam's declaration. This constitutes the first part of a material breach of paragraph 4 of [resolution] 1441."

UN resolution the vital paragraph

UN resolution 1441 and the assessment that could trigger war.

"False statements or omissions in the declarations submitted by Iraq pursuant to this resolution and failure by Iraq at any time to comply with, andco-operate fully in the implementation of this resolution, shall constitute a further material breach of Iraq's obligations and will be reported to the Council for assessment."

The resolution was adopted unanimously by the 15 members of the UN Security Council on 8 November 2002. It orders Iraq to comply fully with its disarmament obligations or face serious consequences.