Secretary of State Colin Powell said the US had a "strong chance" of getting nine or 10 states in the 15-member Council to vote for the resolution while Blair lobbied foreign leaders by phone yesterday, among them Chinese President Jiang Zemin, China's official media said.
But French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin was embarking on a whistle-stop tour of the "swing voters" Guinea, Cameroon and Angola in the hope of persuading them to reject it.
It is likely that the resolution will be voted on by the middle of this week. If Britain and America succeed in getting the nine votes needed to pass the resolution then Saddam would have until 17 March to comply. If he did not do so military conflict would begin soon after.
A defeat of the resolution alone would be unlikely to avert war. Washington has repeatedly said it will lead a "coalition of the willing" against Iraq without UN approval if necessary, and more than 200,000 US and British troops have massed in the region, ready to strike.
But UN authorization would be of huge value to governments of US allies in placating public misgivings -- especially in Britain.
Most Britons would support war if it had UN backing but only 15 percent would do so without, a poll indicated yesterday. Newspapers said Blair faced a huge anti-war revolt among members of parliament in his Labour Party.
One government aide has resigned and more are said to be threatening to do the same.
US and British officials have said even a vetoed majority would be a moral victory for them.
US promises of economic aid to impoverished swing vote states may yet prove more tempting than political argument.
Bush may dispatch his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, to Russia to lobby President Vladimir Putin in person, and Secretary of State Colin Powell could also be called upon to visit leaders of countries with swing votes.
Analysts say US commanders may delay war until April 1 as Turkey's reluctance to be a conduit for Western forces means they must plan another way to occupy northern Iraq -- and because early April offers a moonless sky for aerial bombing.
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