Baghdad, Iraq ? Just days before a crucial round of talks with chief inspectors, a senior Iraqi official said Sunday that Baghdad is “keen to resolve any pending issues” in the U.N. search for banned weapons, but didn’t immediately offer new concessions.

Maj. Gen. Hossam Mohamed Amin indicated, nevertheless, that Iraq may have compromise proposals on hand for the talks next Saturday and Sunday with Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei. “We shall do our best to make his (Blix’s) visit successful,” Amin told reporters.

Iraq, which steadfastly denies it has forbidden arms, is under pressure to make concessions and show progress in the U.N. inspections process, to forestall any U.S.-British diplomatic bid for support for military action against Baghdad.

In his news conference, Amin, the chief Iraqi liaison to the U.N. inspectors, also dismissed U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s plan to present purported evidence of prohibited Iraqi weapons programs to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday.

That material will probably be “fabricated space photos or aerial photos,” of a kind the Iraqis could refute if given a chance to study it, Amin said. “It is a political game,” he said.

President Saddam Hussein is expected to have more to say about the U.S.-Iraqi confrontation in a rare interview, conducted Sunday with retired British lawmaker Tony Benn. Benn said the taped interview would be televised within a day or two.

Chief U.N. weapons inspector Blix and ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), accepted an Iraqi invitation to return for a new round of talks just ahead of their next report to the Security Council, on Feb. 14. It will be the second round of Baghdad talks for Blix and ElBaradei in three weeks.

The two chief inspectors say they hope to see Iraqi movement beforehand on two immediate issues: U.N. reconnaissance flights over Iraq, and U.N. access to weapons scientists in private interviews.

On private interviews with scientists, Amin reiterated, “We cannot force them to conduct such interviews.”

In an authoritarian system like Iraq’s, the inspectors believe, such specialists will be more candid in private meetings, without government officials monitoring. Thus far, every potential Iraqi witness has refused to submit to such secret interviews, demanding the presence of a witness.

American officials contend Saddam’s government has threatened death for any scientist who grants a private interview.

Although he discussed no possible compromise approaches on the issues, Amin told reporters, “We are always ready to discuss or make technical discussions with (the inspectors) to resolve any pending issues from their point of view.”

In other developments Sunday:

l U.N. arms inspectors made surprise visits to a missile factory and a chemicals complex outside of Baghdad as well as a dairy company, likely in connection with the hunt for signs of biological weapons work.

l The Turkish military began moving troops to its southeast border with Iraq for a possible U.S.-led war. Turkey has said it could move into northern Iraq in event of war to prevent a flood of refugees.