DUBAI, Nov 6: United Nations envoys today resumed talks with Iraqi officials to defuse heightened tensions over Baghdad's ban on American weapons inspectors even as Iraq said it was preparing to face any military aggression by the United States.

The inspections by a UN team were halted for the fourth time today after Iraqi authorities refused permission to US members of the UN Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM).

The top UN arms inspector, Richard Butler, accused Iraq of tampering with some of the cameras monitoring dual-use military equipment and said some of the equipment had been moved out of cameras' vision. Iraq, however, said that this was done only as part of preparations to face military retaliation by the US.

Expressing readiness to carry on the talks with the UN team, Iraqi authorities also vowed to return the equipment to the original sites once theUS threat was over.

Butler said the suspended U-2 reconnaissance flights would resume early next week. The UN suspended the surveillance flights when its mediation team was in Baghdad. Earlier, US President Bill Clinton called on the international community to show ``long-term patience and discipline'' in dealing with Iraq, but he expressed some reservations over suspension of spy missions.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.