France frustrates US by continuing to reject use of force against Saddam

France suggested yesterday that the UN Security Council could meet foreign ministers, attending in place of ambassadors, as a way of resolving the six-week diplomatic deadlock over Iraq.

The proposal came as Washington again voiced frustration with the Security Council's failure to adopt a resolution on weapons inspections. "The United Nations has debated this long enough. The time has come for people to raise their hands and cast their vote," Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, said.

But France and Russia remain opposed to a US-UK draft that includes a threat of military action if Iraq fails to cooperate with UN weapons inspectors. Paris wants a two-stage approach that would first give inspections a chance and leave consideration of war until later if Baghdad is obstructive.

President George Bush, who first called on the UN to pass a resolution on Iraq in a speech before the General Assembly on 12 September, also put pressure on the Security Council last night. "Either the UN will do its duty to disarm Saddam Hussein. Or Saddam Hussein will disarm himself. In either case, if they refuse to act ... the US will lead a coalition and disarm Saddam Hussein," he said.

Washington has been signalling with decreasing subtlety in recent days that it will soon give up on the UN and plan for military action alone, with support from Britain. Such an outcome, however, would embarrass the UN and could undermine its authority for many years.

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, made British and US fears about a two-stage process explicit for the first time yesterday. "You could end up in a situation where the future integrity of the whole of the international system of law is at stake, military action is necessary and palpably obvious and yet one or other members of the Security Council decides to veto it," he said. Mr Straw told the Commons that the UK shared Mr Bush's impatience with the UN.

Sources at the UN said the notion of a meeting of the Security Council at foreign ministers' level had not been ruled out. "It could be a useful tool for moving us forward," one diplomat said. But it seemed unlikely that a summit could be arranged before next week.

Hans Blix, the chief weapons inspector, urged the Security Council to settle its differences. After meeting with ambassadors, accompanied by Mohammed El Baradei, director general of the International Atomic Agency, he said he had stressed the "importance of having agreement and broad unity in the council".

Moscow and Paris circulated their own draft proposals at the end of last week. Raising the possibility of a Security Council session with foreign ministers, France's Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin, told Le Figaro newspaper: "Our objective is now twofold; reaching a conclusion quickly, and doing so on the basis of as large a consensus as possible".