Washington has said a United Nations Security Council vote on Iraq will take place this week.
The White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said the US has also rejected a proposal to extend by one month the deadline for the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to disarm.
It is understood the US and Britain have so far failed to muster the nine votes needed for the UNSC to adopt a draft resolution opening the way for war with Iraq.
Blair in appeal over vetoes
Earlier, British Prime Minister Tony Blair urged Russia and France not to use their vetoes in the vote on a new resolution. Mr Blair said this would let Baghdad off the hook.
Speaking in Downing Street, Mr Blair also said any split between Europe and the United States would be dangerous.
The vote on the resolution has been delayed as intense diplomatic manoeuvring continues, but both France and Russia - which are permanent members - have signalled they are prepared to use their vetoes.
The Russian Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov, who is on a visit to Tehran, confirmed today that Russia would vote against the resolution.
Mr Ivanov said Russia was against US efforts to oust Saddam Hussein, adding that no UN resolution had sought regime change in Baghdad.
Last night French President Jacques Chirac also said France would veto the resolution.
Despite this, American officials are still trying to get a majority of Security Council members to support the resolution.
But Pakistan is expected to announce today that it will abstain on the resolution, and the three African nations on the Council are believed to be leaning in the same direction.
Blix will present 'task-list' next week
The UN chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, says he will give the Security Council a report next week setting out the remaining tasks Iraq must complete to achieve disarmament.
Following a three-hour private meeting last night, Dr Blix told reporters that council members were keen to learn what banned weapons Iraq had yet to get rid of.
He said the idea had already found widespread support among members of the Security Council.
UNIKOM withdraws
UN ceasefire observers, part of the UNIKOM mission, continued a phased withdrawal from the Kuwait-Iraq border this morning.
The observers, a battalion of soldiers from Bangladesh, are being pulled back in expectation of a US-led assault into Iraq and across the border they control.
UNIKOM was established in 1991 after the cease fire when an international coalition forced Iraqi troops out of Kuwait.
Today, a convoy of 20 vehicles carried all non-essential personnel south towards Kuwait city.
The only members of the Bangladesh battalion remaining on the 170km DMZ are a small team of observers.
Top Australian analyst quits
In Australia, a top intelligence official has announced his resignation to protest against the government's hardline stance on disarming Iraq.
Andrew Wilkie, a senior analyst at the Office of National Assessments, the agency responsible for briefing Prime Minister John Howard on foreign affairs, told Nine Network television that Australia's policy on Iraq was 'dumb and not worth the risk'.
Wilkie, who wrote a classified briefing on the humanitarian consequences of war in Iraq late last year, described the country's weapons of mass destruction program as disjointed and limited.
'Iraq does not pose a serious enough security threat to the US or the UK or Australia or any other country,' he said.
