Iraq mingled words of conciliation with defiance as its parliament prepared to hold an emergency session today to respond to a US Congress vote authorising President George Bush to wage war on Baghdad.
Britain suggested the likelihood of conflict was receding because the threatened government of President Saddam Hussein was making concessions on UN weapons inspections.
British foreign secretary Mr Jack Straw told BBC radio the prospect of war had moved "probably further away".
"Just four weeks ago (the Iraqis) were saying they would not have the inspectors back in any circumstances, that they had no weapons of mass destruction. There is only one reason why they have moved this far - not far enough - but this far, and that is because of the potential threat of force," he said.
"What we face here is a paradox. The firmer and tougher we are up front about the fact that we will use force in Iraq...the more likely there is to be a peaceful resolution," he added.
Iraq's vice president said in an interview Baghdad was ready to allow weapons inspectors to visit eight presidential palaces, a key sticking point with the United States.
"The inspectors can search and inspect however and where ever they would like," Taha Yassin Ramadan told the German Der Spiegel magazine today.But it was unclear whether he meant Iraq was now willing to abandon procedural restrictions on palace access set out in a 1998 memorandum.
Meanwhile, President Bush said today that the nation was united on the need to confront Iraq.
"Our country and our Congress are now united in purpose. America is speaking with one voice: Iraq must disarm and comply with all existing U.N. resolutions, or it will be forced to comply," Mr Bush said in his weekly radio address.
Bush has made confronting Iraq a top priority, and in a major victory this week he won the congressional authorization he sought to go to war if necessary.
But with less than a month to go before November elections that will determine which party controls Congress, polls showed that the economy was the top issue for voters - not Iraq.