1991:

- Feb 28 - U.S. and allied forces cease fire.

- April 7 - The United States, Britain and France set up a "no-fly zone" north of the 36th parallel.

- April 11 - United Nations declares Gulf War ceasefire following Iraq's acceptance of terms set down in resolution 687.The resolution calls for Baghdad's weapons of mass destruction to be scrapped and part of its oil revenues to be used for war reparations.

- June 9 - UNSCOM inspectors begin chemical weapons checks.

1992:

- Aug 27 - Second "no-fly zone" imposed by the three allies south of the 32nd parallel.

1995:

- July 1 - Iraq admits for the first time that it has biological weapons.

1996:

- Sept 3/4 - United States launches two waves of missiles at Iraqi targets.

- Dec 10 - Oil-for-food deal comes into effect, allowing Iraq to sell $2 billion worth of oil over six months to buy humanitarian supplies for its people.

1997:

- Oct 29 - Iraq bars Americans from weapons inspection teams.

- Nov 13 - Iraq expels arms monitors. It allows them back a week later after Russian diplomacy. Inspections resume.

1998:

- Aug 9 - UNSCOM suspends inspections of new sites after Baghdad decides to halt cooperation with United Nations.

- Dec 16 - U.N. inspectors withdraw from Baghdad.

- Dec 17 - United States and Britain start air strikes aimed at Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programmes.

1999:

- Feb 3 - United Nations says all its American and British staff in Iraq should leave.

2001:

- April 3 - Iraq says U.N.-imposed sanctions have caused the death of 1,471,425 people since August 1990.

2002:

- Jan 30 - U.S President George W. Bush says Iran, Iraq and North Korea form an "axis of evil" developing weapons of mass destruction. All three reject the accusation.

- Sept 24 - Baghdad offers U.N. arms inspectors "unfettered access" to establish the truth after Britain publishes a dossier on Iraq's weapons programme which Baghdad dismisses as lies.

- Oct 4 - U.N. arms inspectors delay inspections in Iraq until the Security Council completes work on a new resolution drafted by the United States and Britain.

- Oct 12 - An adviser to President Saddam Hussein sends a letter to U.N. weapons inspectors saying Iraq is ready to remove all obstacles to a return of inspectors after nearly four years.

- Nov 8 - The U.N. Security Council unanimously approves a resolution giving Iraq one last chance to eliminate its weapons of mass destruction or face "serious consequences". Iraq accepts U.N. Resolution 1441 unconditionally on November 13.

- Nov 18 - First U.N. weapons inspectors arrive in Baghdad.

- Nov 27 - Teams of U.N. inspectors complete their first field mission in Iraq in four years, visiting three sites outside Baghdad to search for banned weapons of mass destruction.

- Dec 7 - Iraq hands a 12,000-page declaration of its arms programmes to U.N. inspectors, a day before a deadline set by the U.N. resolution.

- Dec 10 - Inspectors investigate five sites, including the alleged centre of Iraq's nuclear programme at al-Qaem, near the Syrian border.

- Dec 18 - Britain says a first assessment of Iraq's weapons declaration to the United Nations shows it is not the "full and complete declaration" requested by the Security Council.

- Dec 19 - U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte says omissions from Iraq's declaration mean it is in "material breach" of Resolution 1441.

- Dec 23 - IAEA director-general Mohamed ElBaradei starts interviews with scientists in Iraq.

2003:

- Jan 5 - U.N. experts spring a surprise inspection on a complex housing Iraq's own weapons Monitoring Directorate.

- Jan 9 - Chief inspector Hans Blix says his teams have so far found no "smoking gun" in Iraq but adds Baghdad has failed to answer "many questions" about its weapons programmes.

- Jan 14 - U.S. President Bush says he is "sick and tired" of Iraq's deception over its suspected weapons and warns time is running out for Baghdad to comply with U.N. demands to disarm.

- Jan 16 - UN's Hans Blix says U.N. inspectors have found illegally imported conventional arms materials in Iraq and only fuller cooperation with his team could avert the option of war.