War likely to wait

Iraq said on Saturday it would not accept the new rules that the United States wants to impose on UN weapons inspections.

8216;8216;The stance from the inspectors has been decided and any additional procedure that aims at harming Iraq won8217;t be accepted,8217;8217; Iraq8217;s Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan told reporters.

The proposed UN resolution would declare Iraq has already violated current UN demands and authorise military action if Baghdad fails to comply by accounting for its weapons of mass destruction. It is likely to be introduced next week.

Earlier, the US failed to win over key Security Council members in its campaign to push through a tough UN resolution.