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Brit ain, Spain and the United States made a final appeal for international unity on Iraq Sunday, urging the United Nations to agree to an ultimatum authorising force if Iraq does not disarm.

US President George W. Bush set Monday as a deadline to see if a diplomatic route could still be found to get Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to give up any weapons of mass destruction, warning Baghdad it would "disarm or be disarmed." Monday, he said, was a "moment of truth" for the world.

Speaking at the 11th hour summit on the remote Azores islands after talks with prime ministers Tony Blair of Britain and Jose Maria Aznar of Spain, Bush vowed to seek UN approval to use force to disarm Iraq.

"If military force is required, we will quickly seek new Security Council resolutions to encourage broad participation in the process of helping the Iraqi people to build a free Iraq," he said.

The summit was an attempt to end a diplomatic deadlock at the United Nations over a British-Spanish-US resolution authorising force against Saddam.

France and Russia have vowed to veto the proposal, which faces strong opposition from council members China, Germany and Syria.

In an attempt to overcome their objections, Blair urged them to back an ultimatum: "We make a final appeal for there to be that strong unified message on behalf of the international community that lays down a clear ultimatum to Saddam that authorises force if he continues to defy the will of the whole of the international community.

"I think it is so important that even now, at this late stage, we try to get the United Nations... resolving this," he said.

Bush said that France had "shown its cards" in vowing to veto the draft text. "We will have to see tomorrow (Monday) what those cards are," he added.

In a further attempt to rally international support to their stance against Iraq, the three vowed to work towards securing peace in the Middle East, with Bush saying Saddam represented a threat to the whole region.

"All of us will work to make sure that that vision of the Middle East, two states -- Israel confident of its security, a Palestinian state that is viable -- comes and is made a reality," Blair added.

The diplomatic tone of the joint press conference contrasted with comments by US Secretary of State Colin Powell earlier, who said UN Security Council debate on the diplomatic stalemate was now pointless.

With such entrenched and polarised views on the world body's top council, Powell held out little hope of a diplomatic solution, while insisting that Saddam could still avert war if he went into exile.

Powell also rebuffed calls by France, Germany and Russia for talks to continue and weapons inspections to be strengthened.

"Right now I don't see what purpose is to be served by another meeting when differences are so fundamental," Powell said in an US television interview.

The Iraqi leader meanwhile prepared his country for a US-led invasion, splitting it into four military zones "to rebuff and destroy any aggression if the villains carried it out," the state news agency INA said.

Washington was on the verge of ordering many of its diplomats to leave the Middle East and Gulf, Powell added, indicating that war may be imminent.

Bush's Vice President Dick Cheney said: "there's no question we're close to the end of the diplomatic efforts... Clearly, the president is going to have to make a very difficult and important decision here in the next few days." Shortly before heading to the talks, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar told the BBC that the resolution was not a legal requirement.

"A further resolution would be politically desirable, politically better, but from a legal point of view it is not indispensable," he said.

France, Germany and Russia urged the Security Council next week to define a disarmament task list, along with a strict calendar for Baghdad to follow to avoid war.

The council was scheduled to hold closed-door consultations Monday on the proposals, and again Tuesday to hear a report from UN weapons inspectors.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said the chances of reaching a peaceful resolution were "slimmer than ever", while a German government report claimed that up to two million people could die as a result of war.

A diplomat in Baghdad said that Iraq would deliver a report to the UN in two days on stocks of anthrax that Iraq said it destroyed in 1991 and that it considered the file on deadly VX agents closed after sending a second set of documents on the chemical agents to the world body.

French President Jacques Chirac was expected to say in an interview to be broadcast later Sunday that he could consider a 30-day timeline for UN weapons inspectors to wrap up their work.

The Washington Post said the United States was "certain to lose" if the resolution came to a vote, reinforcing speculation that the United States could launch unilateral military action.

Powell hinted at that outcome Thursday: "The options remain: go for a vote and see what members say, or not go for a vote." The United States, and particularly Britain, are keen to win the nine Security Council votes necessary for the resolution to pass, even if France or Russia then veto it.

This will leave London and Washington to claim the support of the Security Council and lay out the moral case for military action.

However, that prospect looked increasingly unlikely, with the resolution so far only garnering the support of Bulgaria, with China, France, Germany, Russia and Syria lining up to block the proposal.

The six remaining non-permanent members are considered to be undecided, but with Angola and Chile already voicing opposition and Pakistan reluctant to back war, the nine votes needed in the 15-member council looked out of reach.

Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, hosting the meeting, described the likelihood of a political solution as "minute." Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix was considering an invitation to visit Baghdad with the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, while British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said a visit would be "inappropriate." A UN spokesman in Baghdad said Iraq had destroyed two more banned Al-Samoud 2 missiles, bringing to 70 the number scrapped since March 1 - Sapa-AFP.

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