"It is a simple choice: people have got to decide whether they are going to allow any second resolution to have teeth, to make it clear that there is a real ultimatum in it," Blair told journalists in a reference to the French but without naming them.
"That's what we need to find out and need to find that out overnight," Blair said after leaving Portugal's Azores Islands following a crisis meeting with US President George W. Bush and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar during which they gave the United Nations until Monday to find common ground on the standoff with Baghdad.
France and Russia have warned they are ready to use their veto to block a resolution which is seen as authorising war on Iraq.
"If their positions do not change, if they are still saying that they will veto any resolution that authorises the use of force in the event of non compliance, so that we just have another discussion, if that remains their position overnight, it is very difficult to see how you can move this diplomatic process forward," said Blair.
Finally naming the country he was referring to, Blair went on: "France made it absolutely clear that it would veto any resolution with un ultimatum in it or authorising force in the event of non compliance, and that is the problem.
"I do say to you that this is the impasse." The British premier continued: "The purpose of tonight's meeting was to agree that we give people a chance to change that position.
But if they are not prepared to change it, then you are left in a situation where you literally just discuss endlessly at the UN while never coming to a decision." French President Jacques Chirac meanwhile reaffirmed late Sunday that France was ready to use its veto in the UN Security Council to block a resolution that would pave the way to war on Iraq.
In an interview with US television networks CNN and CBS, Chirac said Paris stood by its refusal to back any attack now on Baghdad, opting for a diplomatic path that "we should pursue until we've come a dead end." A source at Blair's Downing Street office, requesting anonymity, said the likelihood of seeing a new resolutioon submitted to the Security Council "depends on the consultations overnight.
"If Chirac comes back and says we'll go for it, then fine!" Blair "passionately believes that if the international community had held together Saddam would probably be gone by now," the source said.
"It's a decision for France and Russia whether they would sign up to an ultimatum." - Sapa-AFP
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