Powell challenges Iraq on weapons of mass destruction

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday that Iraq must prove that it is not building weapons of mass destruction.

In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Powell said he is aware that Iraq has asked for a dialogue with the United Nations.

He said the conversation with the United Nations "should be short."

Weapons inspectors "have to go back in on our terms," Powell said.

"It is the burden of this evil regime to prove to the world they are not doing what we think they are doing," he said.

Powell began his remarks by saying that the United States is watching Iraq, Iran and North Korea but does not plan to invade any of them. President Bush called the three nations part of an "axis of evil" in his recent State of the Union address.

Powell said support is being built for "smart sanctions," which seek to target the Iraqi regime rather than the Iraqi people, and he said he believes that most nations will support them in the review at the end of the current six-month sanctions period.

Iraq's appeal for a U.N. dialogue is seen as an attempt to lift the sanctions, which have been in place since the Persian Gulf War in 1991.