Blair Says Iraq Can Avert War, UN Experts Fan Out

London/Baghdad (Reuters): British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Monday Iraq could avoid war, but would not be allowed to threaten its neighbors or defy the United Nations.

U.N. arms teams set out again for suspect sites after Iraq's oil minister said Baghdad would cooperate fully with the renewed inspection effort to disprove U.S. and British charges that it still possesses weapons of mass destruction.

Amir Muhammad Rasheed told Reuters Iraq expected the United States to try to goad it into providing a pretext for war.

"Iraq won't give the American administration the chance...to create such a confrontation and a crisis," he said.

Writing in the Financial Times, Blair argued that Britain must continue preparing for military action so that President Saddam Hussein realized the threat against him was serious.

Blair's comments appeared ahead of his meeting in London later in the day with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"Sometimes the only way of avoiding war is to be clear that you are prepared to use force," Blair wrote.

"Military conflict in Iraq is not inevitable. What is inevitable is that Iraq will no longer be allowed to continue threatening its neighbors and defying the U.N."

Assad is expected to warn Blair that a U.S.-led war on Iraq would have grave consequences for the whole Middle East.

Last week the Syrian leader predicted that a war on Iraq could plunge the region into turmoil and spawn more terrorism.

Iraqi officials said U.N. experts, who now number more than 100, visited at least four nuclear, missile, biological and missile sites on Sunday after scouring nine the previous day.

The inspectors returned last month after a four-year gap to check Iraq's claim that it is now free of banned weapons.

British officials analyzing Iraq's huge dossier on its arms projects are "very disappointed," saying much information is missing, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

Their view echoed remarks by U.S. officials and U.N. diplomats, who said last week the declaration appeared to fall short of the full disclosure required by last month's U.N. Security Council resolution 1441.

In an interview with Reuters, Oil Minister Rasheed said: "The whole public opinion will see how Iraq is wise, Iraq is truthful. It has absolutely no weapons of mass destruction."

Asked if Iraq would comply with a U.N. demand -- pushed for by the United States -- for a list of scientists associated with its past and present weapons programs, he said: "They will try many questions. We will deal with them."

Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix formally asked Iraq on Thursday to supply the list by the end of the month.

Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan told Qatar's al- Jazeera TV that Baghdad would cooperate with the inspectors, though it was unsure this would avert a U.S.-led invasion.

Ramadan said Iraqis were prepared to inflict great harm on American troops in the event of war and urged neighboring Arab and Muslim countries not to support an attack.

U.S. and British planes attacked what Washington said were anti-aircraft defenses in a southern "no-fly" zone on Sunday. Iraq said the jets had hit civilian targets.