Iraqi Nuclear Program Called Harmless : Mideast: Allied bombing and U.N. inspections have left it ‘at zero now,’ leader of the latest inspection team says.

Allied bombing during the Gulf War and the subsequent activities of U.N. weapons inspection teams have made Iraq’s nuclear program harmless, a top U.N. weapons inspector said Wednesday.

“It (the program) is at zero now,” Maurizio Zifferero, leader of the latest nuclear inspection team to visit Iraq, told reporters at the end of his second day in the field.

“This has been achieved not only because of the activities of neutralization but because of the activities of the coalition before,” said Zifferero, deputy director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) assigned by the U.N. Security Council to oversee the dismantling of Iraq’s nuclear program under the terms of the Gulf War cease-fire.

Iraq has denied trying to develop nuclear arms but admitted carrying out nuclear arms-related research.

Asked about his activities in the past two days, Zifferero said:

“What is more interesting at this moment from my point of view is the atmosphere. There was a lot of expectation after what occurred on the political level to see what was the reaction.”

Zifferero’s inspection comes as Iraq is chafing under a “no-fly” zone imposed in the south by Gulf War allies. The United States, Britain and France, policing the exclusion area, had warned of military action against Iraq if Baghdad impeded Zifferero’s mission.

In July, international experts waited for 23 days before they were allowed by Baghdad into a ministry building where they suspected Iraq was hiding military secrets. Nothing was found.

During the standoff angry demonstrators taunted and spat at the inspectors, and one man attempted to stab an inspector with a skewer.

The original team had to withdraw under Iraqi pressure, and the standoff was resolved when the U.N. Special Commission assigned a “neutral” team to inspect the building.

Baghdad has placed its ministries out of bounds to the U.N. arms experts. A U.N. inspection team was in Iraq in August but did not seek access to a ministry.

Zifferero said he was not seeking confrontation with the Iraqis. “I am glad to report that as far as our business is concerned there has been no change. Business is as usual.”

He said Iraq’s decision to halt its nuclear activities after the Gulf War was a factor in his declaration that the program was finished.

“They (the Iraqis) have stated many times to us that they have decided at the higher political level to stop these activities,” the Italian expert said.

“This we have verified,” he said, “We’re completing our investigation of the program and find no evidence of the program being continued.”

Asked whether he still believes Iraq was hiding centrifuges used for uranium enrichment, Zifferero said: “The centrifuge program has still some details to be clarified, but . . . they are not very important.

“There is no strong evidence that anything very important is being kept,” he said, adding that U.N. teams had searched for evidence that Iraq had secret underground nuclear complexes but found nothing.

Meanwhile at the United Nations, the Security Council, troubled by harassment of U.N. relief workers in Iraq and Iraqi threats to shut the program down, called on Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali on Wednesday to maintain the operation anyway and “continue to use all resources at his disposal to help all those in need in Iraq.”

Calling on Iraq to cooperate, the Security Council said it supports Boutros-Ghali’s efforts to maintain a relief operation by the U.N. and non-governmental organizations and urged him to continue doing so.