The US says that it could go to war on Iraq without clear UN backing but Russia, Germany and France all refused yesterday to drop their opposition to rapid military action.
French President Jacques Chirac told British Prime Minister Tony Blair that Paris was ready to work with London on disarming Iraq but he rejected any ultimatum, aides to Chirac said.
In Washington, the White House said US President George W. Bush will travel to Portugal's Azores islands, about 1,450km west of the European mainland, to meet Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar in a "final pursuit" of a UN resolution on disarming Iraq.
And in Baghdad, Iraq's top preacher urged Muslims to attack American interests worldwide to counter any invasion by about 250,000 US and British troops massed in the Gulf region. Diplomats say Washington could attack in coming days.
In a bruising dispute between allies, Washington and London, along with Spain, failed on Thursday to persuade the 15-member UN Security Council to agree on a new resolution authorizing military action, accusing President Saddam Hussein of failing to disarm.
A spokeswoman for Chirac said France was ready to discuss halting UN arms inspections before the end of a 120-day period which Paris has until now backed. But her account of a telephone call to Blair suggested little else new in Chirac's position.
Faced with such resistance, the US said it might abandon efforts to get a UN vote altogether. It says last November's resolution 1441 is mandate enough. But Blair is anxious for UN cover to assuage British public opinion.
Washington and London agreed to extend diplomacy over the weekend by dropping a demand for a Council vote yesterday.
"The options remain, go for a vote and see what members say or not go for a vote," US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Thursday. "But ... all the options that you can imagine are before us and [we will] be examining them today, tomorrow and into the weekend."
Asked about the possibility of a three-way summit with the US and Spain, Blair's spokesman said: "If the prime minister has to travel he will ... Nothing has been finalized."
Moscow, Berlin and Paris all reiterated bitter opposition to any attacks, saying UN weapons inspections were still the best route to peace with Saddam.
In Germany, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told parliament in a state of the nation address at the Reichstag, "It is still possible to solve this conflict peacefully."
And Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov dismissed Britain's six-point plan: "The British proposals on Iraq are not constructive and do not solve the main problem -- preventing the use of force against Baghdad," he told Interfax news agency.
In a sermon at Baghdad's Mother Of All Battles mosque yesterday, leading Iraqi preacher Abdul-Razzaq Saadi called on fellow Muslims to sink US and British ships and asked God to drown their leaders, President George W. Bush and Blair.
"It is the duty of Muslims today, Iraqis and others, to threaten American interests wherever they are, to set them on fire and to sink their ships. This is jihad in the name of God," he said.
The US navy said it was moving a dozen more missile-firing warships from the eastern Mediterranean to the Gulf region, joining more than 60 other US ships arrayed against Iraq. Such a move could bring more cruise missiles to bear on Iraq.
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