Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said alternatives to force against Baghdad were "just about exhausted."
"This regime has very little time left to undo the legacy of 12 years," he said of the country whose invasion of Kuwait sparked the 1991 Gulf War that expelled its forces.
Russia disagreed. "Most countries believe that opportunities for a diplomatic solution are far from exhausted," Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said in Moscow.
Armitage flew to the Russian capital yesterday for talks with First Deputy Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Trubnikov.
"I trust ... I can shed some light on why we're thinking as we are and taking the view that our options are just about exhausted," he said.
Mohamed ElBaradei, the UN nuclear agency chief who will report with Blix on Monday, said the inspectors needed "quite a few months" more to finish their work.
He said: "I am pleading for the inspection process to take its course."
Turkey, a staunch NATO ally which has misgivings about helping start a war on its own doorstep, said it would host a meeting of regional foreign ministers in Istanbul today. They would urge Baghdad to obey UN disarmament demands.
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