An offer by Iraq to consider a return by United Nations arms inspectors was dismissed by the White House last night as lacking credibility.
"Every day you get a different story out of Iraq . . . Iraq changes positions on whether it will let the inspectors in more often than Saddam Hussein changes bunkers," the White House spokesman, Mr Ari Fleischer, told reporters.
The chorus of world leaders cautioning against military action grew yesterday with the former president of South Africa, Mr Nelson Mandela, saying that he was "appalled" at America's policy.
Accusing President George W. Bush of "introducing chaos into international affairs," Mr Mandela said: "The message they [the US\] are sending is that, if you're afraid of the veto in the Security Council, then you're entitled to . . . ignore the Security Council."
The Iraqi suggestion on readmitting the UN arms inspectors - put into Iraq to monitor Iraq's compliance with UN resolutions on weapons of mass destruction but withdrawn in 1998 after repeated harrassment by the regime - came earlier in the day from Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Tareq Aziz.
Speaking at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, Mr Aziz said that inspectors might be allowed back, but only in the context of an overall deal on Baghdad's disputes with Washington. Mr Aziz said he hoped to meet the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, this morning to discuss the situation.
US sources yesterday sought to play down suggestions of a rift within Mr Bush's cabinet over the question of pre-emptive military action and the need for a "regime change" in Iraq.
Recent remarks by the US Vice-President, Mr Dick Cheney, appeared to be contradicted at the weekend by the Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, who said that, as a "first step", he wanted a return of the inspectors. Mr Cheney and others have indicated that the inspectors issue is largely irrelevant to their thinking on the need to overthrow the Iraqi dictator.
Russia warned against military action and was joined by several Gulf states. Mr Youssef bin Alawi bin Abdullah, the Omani minister of foreign affairs, who is current head of the pro-western Gulf Co-Operation Council, said that an attack would exacerbate an already bad situation.
"A US invasion of Iraq would deepen the feeling of hostility against the United States and incite feelings of revenge and violence in Arab and Muslim countries," he said.
In Moscow, a visit by the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Mr Naji Sabri, was rewarded by support from his Russian counterpart, Mr Igor Ivanov, who asserted that no evidence existed that Iraq was a threat to US national security.