UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) said in a report released Tuesday that it could be ready to restart inspections in Iraq at short notice, despite the destruction of their Baghdad headquarters.

The headquarters were destroyed in the August 19 car bomb attack on the United Nations headquarters at the Canal Hotel that killed 22, including the head of the UN mission in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

"It is expected the Center will not be useable for some time to come, and it remains to be determined whether it can be restored for operations or whether new premises will have to be found," read the UNMOVIC's quarterly report.

"Apart from this, UNMOVIC would be able and ready to resume field operations in Iraq, including confirmation of any findings related to disarmament, at short notice if the Council so requests," the AFP report stated.

UNMOVIC inspectors withdrew from Iraq on March 18, right before the US-led war on Iraq broke out.

Since the end of hostilities, US officials have repeatedly said they do not need the UNMOVIC inspectors returning to Iraq because its own weapons inspectors can handle the job.

However none of Saddam Hussein's forbidden alleged weapons of mass destruction-- the main reason for going to war against the former Iraqi dictator -- have been found.

France recently suggested to the UN Security Council that UNMOVIC inspectors could return to Iraq, an idea that Britain seemed ready to support.