The UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) presented the list to the 15-nation Security Council this week and its chairman, Richard Butler, declared that if Iraq cooperated, the lengthy standoff over weapons inspections and sanctions could change significantly.

``If Iraq gives us the truth we know it holds ... I could foresee (delivering) a report in October that would be different from any previous report,'' Butler told reporters on Thursday after two days of meetings with Council diplomats.

The UNSCOM chairman added that, simply in providing Baghdad with what he called ``a road map'' for further disarmament objectives, the UN is already taking a major step that would have been unthinkable a few years ago.

Until recently, nations critical of Iraq's cooperation notably the UnitedStates and Britain argued that to provide Baghdad with such a list would be to encourage it to cooperate only with a few, selected tasks and to seek to conceal other weapons programmes.

In addition, Butler said, at least some of the items UNSCOM is seeking can be provided quickly. ``There are some items on this list which can be done in one day,'' he contended.

The list of priority disarmament issues includes the need for Iraq to complete accounting of its warhead materials, provide the records for the destruction of missile propellants, and detail indigenous production of missiles.

UNSCOM also wanted Iraq to account for special chemical-filled warheads, including quantities of mustard shells and `VX' warfare agent which Baghdad claims it has destroyed, and to provide more details on its production of biological weapons.

Many UN diplomats including key Iraqi allies, like the French and Russian delegations have argued in recent weeks that Baghdad was moving closer to answering all outstandingquestions on missiles and chemical weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency also declared satisfaction with Iraqi compliance on nuclear disarmament tasks.

Most importantly, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan personally involved himself in pushing ahead with Iraq's disarmament following a standoff between Iraq and UNSCOM in February which led to threats of US military involvement.

After Annan's intervention, Iraqi cooperation with the weapons monitors had improved, Butler said, but the path to ending sanctions remains long.

The US, which has veto power in the Security Council, has resisted calls to end the more intrusive phase of UNSCOM inspections in which Iraqi weapons sites are often searched without prior notice to shift to a period of long-term monitoring.

US officials hinted they might allow nuclear inspections to be conducted on the less intrusive long-term model by the time Iraq's cooperation on disarmament is reviewed next in October. But Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahafdismissed that proposal as insufficient.

Still, Baghdad cannot count on any strong campaign to lift sanctions being mounted between now and October. Although Butler's list of future tasks was achievable if Iraq cooperated, the UNSCOM chief acknowledged that there were no guarantees of any significant change in the sanctions regime over the next few months.

Moreover, Butler also showed the Council in detail a disturbing pattern of Iraqi concealment of its arsenal, in which Iraqi officials repeatedly claimed to have destroyed their weaponry, only to have changed those claims when new evidence of weapons production had been found.

The UNSCOM presentation this week did much to bolster US accusations that Baghdad had not earned any lifting of sanctions, since Council resolutions stated that UNSCOM must first verify that Iraq's nuclear, chemical, biological and long-range missile weaponry have been destroyed. ``Sanctions are not near being lifted,'' US Ambassador Bill Richardson said after Butler'spresentation. ``UNSCOM has dealt a devastating blow to Iraq's credibility ... Iraq has shown a pattern of concealment that has been detailed by UNSCOM.'