Larnaca, Cyprus ? U.N. inspectors fly today to Iraq, resuming the search for alleged weapons of mass destruction in a mission that could determine whether the Gulf is plunged into a new war.

U.S. President George W. Bush has warned Iraqi President Saddam Hussein that failure to cooperate with the inspectors would bring on an American attack. Saddam faces a three-week deadline to reveal his weapons of mass destruction or provide convincing evidence he no longer has any.

Chief U.N. inspector Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, who oversees the International Atomic Energy Agency, flew to Cyprus from Vienna, Austria on Sunday, joining about two dozen other members of the advance team assembling here to prepare for resumption of inspections after a nearly four-year absence.

“The question of war and peace remains first of all in the hands of Iraq, the Security Council and the members of the Security Council,” Blix said.

Blix, who will lead the overall mission, said his team was prepared to meet the challenge of ensuring Iraqi compliance. But he said he hoped Iraq would not try to hide anything.

Bush is insisting on “zero tolerance” of the Iraqi delaying tactics and deceit that marked the previous inspection effort.

Sounding a tough line, ElBaradei said there was agreement on the need for “intrusive verifications :quot; that means we would go everywhere. We will use every means at our disposal to make sure that Iraq does not have weapons of mass destruction.”

He also said Iraqis with key information would be taken out of the country for interviews for their own safety, if necessary, but acknowledged, “if people do not want to talk, we obviously will not be able to force them to talk.”

However, Blix favors cooperation instead of confrontation with the Iraqis, and the differences in approach could create tension between the inspectors and the Bush administration, U.N. officials said Sunday on condition of anonymity.

Blix acknowledged input from different governments, but said, “It is we who will decide what to do.”