Iraq's push for disarmament compliance followed a draft resolution given the UN Security Council on Friday by the United States, Britain and Spain, which would give Baghdad a March 17 deadline to fully disarm or face military action.

Although the resolution - with three of the five veto-wielding council members against it - stood little chance of passage, US President George W Bush reiterated his resolve to go to war alone.

"We don't really need United Nations approval," he said late in the week, although his government says it would much prefer to have the approval of the international community.

Russia labelled the March 17 deadline unnecessary and unjustified and echoed a threat from France, which also has a veto on the council, to block any resolution authorising the use of force.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov warned that "if the United States unilaterally launched a military strike on Iraq without a UN mandate, it would be in violation of the UN charter," in which case the Security Council would have to "make appropriate decisions".

In Baghdad, the UN inspectors' spokesman said Iraq had scrapped a further six of its banned Al-Samoud 2 missiles after a day's pause, raising to 40 the number of the missiles destroyed since the operation began a week ago.

"Six more Al-Samoud 2 missiles were destroyed, along with three warheads," spokesman Hiro Ueki said.

Iraqi officials have said about 100 of the rockets were made.

Bush derided those efforts as a "willful charade" to thwart UN inspectors.

He also rejected an assessment by chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix that the destruction of the banned missiles represented "substantial" disarmament.

"Our intelligence shows that even as he (Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein) is destroying these few missiles, he has ordered the continued production of the very same type of missiles," Bush said in his weekly radio address.

Iraq described Blix's report as "fair" and in return demanded the lifting of the embargo slapped on it for invading Kuwait in 1990, Iraqi television quoted an official as saying.

The latest draft resolution challenges the Security Council either to declare Iraq in full compliance with UN demands on disarmament by March 17 or to authorise war.

The resolution, amended at the last minute to give Iraq more time, was seen as a bid to turn the tables on France, Germany, Russia, China and Syria.