WASHINGTON, Jan 27: US Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Monday that Iraq’s chance to “choose peaceful disarmament is coming to an end” — the first response by a top Bush administration official to the UN inspectors’ report to the Security Council.

“The issue is not how much more time the inspectors need to search in the dark, but how much more time Iraq should be given to turn on the light and get clean,” Powell said.

Powell said Iraq continues to defy the world on disarmament and has failed to comply with UN resolutions demanding that it give up its suspected weapons programmes.

“To this day, the (Iraqi) regime continues to defy the will of the United Nations,” Powell told reporters. “The (Iraqi) regime has responded to (UN demands for disarmament) with empty claims, empty declarations and empty gestures.”

Powell said Iraq’s defiance threatened the credibility of the UN Security Council and that while the United States still hopes for a peaceful solution, time was running out.—dpa/Reuters