The scheduled January 27th report by UN weapons inspectors will mark " the start of a last phase" for Iraq, US national security adviser Ms Condoleezza Rice said today.
"Clearly the 27th is an important date, it is not a deadline, but it is an important date. It probably marks the start of a last phase," Ms Rice said on NBC's Meet the Press.
"I think we are at the verge of an important set of decisions, because time is running out here."
Meanwhile, top UN disarmament inspectors returned to Iraq demanding greater cooperation from Baghdad as controversery swirled over new weapons discoveries, but adding that war was not inevitable.
Mr Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, stressed however, that the timing of the trip was "very important ... critical."
"We would like to see the inspections work and for that to work we need a lot of additional information, and we are going to impress on our Iraqi counterparts the importance of providing as much information, as much documents, as much physical evidence as possible.
"This will help greatly before we submit our report next week to the Security Council," on January 27th, he said, stressing that "it's in Iraq's interest to present us evidence so that we can present positive reports."
AFP