With the UN Security Council locked in deep crisis last night, Britain and the United States' postponed until later this week a vote on a joint resolution that could unleash a US-led invasion of Iraq.
Hopes in Washington and London that they could get the resolution through the 15-member council in a vote today, lay in ruins after France and Russia declared categorically that they would oppose the resolution.
French President Jacques Chirac said in Paris: "No matter what the circumstances we will vote 'No'." Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Mr Igor Ivanov said Russia would vote against the resolution in its present form.
The Security Council met late yesterday behind closed doors in New York to discuss the resolution, tabled on Friday, which states that Iraq will have missed a final opportunity to disarm unless it shows full and immediate co-operation with its disarmament obligations by March 17th.
Three of the six undecided countries on the council yesterday suggested amendments to the resolution extending the time frame, but the US and Britain made clear that the March 17th date was not likely to change. A fourth, Pakistan, said it would abstain.
The resolution needs a majority of nine and no veto to pass, and its sponsors, the US, Britain and Spain, up to last night had only the guaranteed support of Bulgaria.
President Bush spent yesterday telephoning world leaders as diplomacy entered its final days before what most observers regard as an inevitable war, with or without UN sanction. The US President made the case that the war was a moral issue as it would free Iraq from a dictator, White House spokesman Mr Ari Fleischer said.
With the US facing defeat, he said that the Russian decision to vote against would be "from a moral point of view, more than a disappointment". Mr Ivanov said earlier in Moscow: "If the draft resolution . . . which includes unattainable ultimatums and demands, is in the end put to a vote, then Russia will use its vote against the resolution." The Russian Foreign Minister also warned that Washington's efforts to change the Iraqi regime and impose a US-based system of democracy were "doomed to failure".
The US ambassador to the UN, Mr John Negroponte, said last night: "We're still working to try to forge the necessary support for the draft resolution."
President Chirac said the French veto might not be needed as the resolution "does not have a majority of nine votes". It would be a "dangerous precedent" if the US went ahead with a war unilaterally and France would not participate, he said. British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair was meanwhile facing the disintegration of his government over his pro-US policy on Iraq. International Development Secretary Ms Clare Short has threatened to resign if the UK joined a war without UN approval. Foreign Secretary Mr Jack Straw said London and Washington could set out a list of detailed disarmament moves for Saddam Hussein to fulfil by March 17th if he was to avoid war.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the world was at a dangerous point of division. "If the US goes outside the Security Council, it will not be in conformity with the UN charter," he said.
Last night the Department of Foreign Affairs refused to be drawn on the crisis. "This situation is changing by the hour . . . This will be like a moveable feast over the coming days," a spokesman said.
Referring to the possibility that there would not be a second UN resolution, PD TD, Ms Fiona O'Malley told RTÉ: "I don't think troops would be allowed land under those circumstances. I don't think they should be allowed . . ." Speaking in a personal capacity, she added that Shannon Airport should only be used for "humanitarian purposes".