Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have verified that none of the declared nuclear material in Iraq was missing, an IAEA spokeswoman said Saturday.

"No nuclear material had been diverted," said IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming.

The team from the UN nuclear watchdog returned to Vienna Saturday after taking inventory of "several tons" of natural and low-enriched uranium stored in Iraq.

"The material -- natural or low-enriched uranium -- is not sensitive from a proliferation perspective and is consolidated at a storage facility near the Tuwaitha complex, south of Baghdad," said the IAEA in a statement.

The latest verification, the first of its kind since the Iraq war, was conducted after Washington airlifted about 1.8 tons of nuclear material from the Tuwaitha facility, which was looted last year, due to "security concerns."

"This week's mission was a good first step," IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said.

"Now we hope to be in a position to complete the mandate entrusted to us by the Security Council, to enable the Council over time to remove all sanctions and restrictions imposed on Iraq," he added.

The removal of remaining sanctions was dependent on completion of the verification process by the IAEA and the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), said ElBaradei.

Such inspections are required by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which authorizes the IAEA to verify the correctness of any declared holdings of nuclear material, and that the material has not been diverted to any undeclared activity.

Before the UN inspectors left Iraq ahead of the Iraq war in March 2003, they reported finding no evidence of revived nuclear programs by former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who was toppled by the US-led coalition.

Over recent months, the IAEA has resumed technical assistance to Iraq, the IAEA statement said.

IAEA experts have completed a regional pollution survey to guide the UN Development Program in the clearing of sunken wreckage from Iraq's coastal zone and IAEA personnel have also provided data on radioactive sources in the war-torn country.

(Xinhua News Agency August 9, 2004)