British prime minister Mr Tony Blair said today no decision had been taken by the United States about whether to attack Iraq but insisted that Saddam Hussein had to be dealt with.
"No decisions have been made in relation to Iraq at all but there is no doubt that Iraq poses a threat," Mr Blair said, during an extended grilling by a top-ranking parliamentary committee.
"It is clear that Saddam Hussein is still trying to develop weapons of mass destruction. They pose an enormous threat to the world. How you deal with that, however, is an open question."
Iraq says it has no weapons of mass destruction.
A team of UN weapons inspectors left Iraq on the eve of a wave of US and British air strikes in December 1998, and have been refused entry since then.
US President Mr George Bush said last week Washington would use all tools at its disposal to topple the Iraqi president. He has branded Iraq part of an "axis of evil" working to acquire weapons of mass destruction.
US and British jets have patrolled no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq set up by Western powers after the 1991 Gulf War. Iraq kicked out UN weapons inspectors in 1998.