Chief UN arms inspector Mr Hans Blix called new disarmament talks with Iraqi officials on Saturday "very substantial," as the United States rebuked European allies for their reluctance to back war on Baghdad.
Mr Blix and chief UN atomic expert Mr Mohamed ElBaradei opened two days of talks in Baghdad as they prepared to present a fresh report to the UN Security Council next Friday that could start a countdown to war.
In Germany, Defense Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld told a security conference the world was serious about disarming Baghdad. He rounded on France, Germany and Belgium for "inexcusable" stalling of NATO moves to help protect Turkey from any war in its neighbor Iraq.
Apparently undeterred, Germany announced a new Franco-German initiative to try to avert military conflict. A German magazine reported it involved sending thousands of UN peacekeeping troops to Iraq and trebling the number of arms inspectors.
Mr Rumsfeld said however he had not been officially informed of the initiative and officials expressed skepticism over it.
Speaking to journalists after talks with German Defense Mr Minister Peter Struck, Mr Rumsfeld said: "I heard about it from the press. No official word. I have no knowledge of it."
A senior US official said Mr Rumsfeld had questioned Mr Struck on reports of the proposal and the German side had confirmed they were talking to the French but were not ready to discuss the plan with the Americans.
"It's kind of extraordinary that the secretary of defense has been in Munich more than 24 hours and we get to hear about a major diplomatic initiative through Reuters," the official said.