LONDON, Sept 14: British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Saturday that the United Nations is poised to set a deadline for Iraq to readmit weapons inspectors.

After a meeting of foreign ministers from the four other permanent members of the UN Security Council, Straw said there was a “very clear understanding” that a time limit should be imposed on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

He said that there was unanimity among the five permanent council members about the “patent, flagrant breach by Saddam Hussein of a series of UN Security Council resolutions with respect of weapons of mass destruction”.

“There’s also complete unanimity about the imperative of getting the weapons inspectors back into Iraq,” he said.