UNITED NATIONS, March 7: Britain on Friday announced it would amend the resolution authorizing use of force to give Iraq a deadline of March 17 to disarm or be ready for an invasion.

Addressing the Security Council on Friday after the chief weapons inspectors presented their reports, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw put up a spirited support for the position taken by Britain and the United States on Iraqi disarmament.

Several times during his address, he mentioned French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin by name, taking issue with his country’s position on allowing weapons inspectors unlimited time to do their work.

It was not the pressure of the international community, Arab League or the non-aligned movement that made Iraq show some cooperation with inspectors, but the presence of more than 200,000 American and British men and women putting their lives on the line, he told the French minister.

The deadline was spelled out in an amendment to the US-British-Spanish draft resolution put forward on Feb 24.

It declares Iraq will have failed to take a final opportunity to disarm peacefully “unless, on or before March 17, the council concludes that Iraq has demonstrated full, unconditional, immediate and active cooperation” with UN inspectors.