Britain today warned that "time is running out" for Saddam Hussein and called for a firm deadline to be set for Iraq to divulge its weapons programs.
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw made the appeal ahead of a meeting in Brussels of four EU ministers who countries are members of the UN Security Council: Britain, France, Germany and Spain.
"Time is running out for Saddam Hussein," Mr Straw said. "So we will make decisions about exactly how much time in the light of the report in the UN later in the day".
The Timesnewspaper reported earlier that Britain would seek to impose a final ultimatum on Iraq following a key report later in the day from the chief UN arms experts to the UN Security Council in New York.
The new deadline, which could be set as early as the beginning of March, is likely to dominate discussion at the Security Council, and "is aimed at countering the impression that an American-led war is inevitable," the newspaper reported.
It is also regarded as a practical move, since most of the US and British military forces heading to the Gulf will not be in position to fight until the end of February or the beginning of March, it added.
AFP