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UN weapons inspectors say they have been warned by the United States to start leaving Iraq in what is seen as the clearest sign yet that war is imminent.

Only hours earlier, US President George W Bush set a fresh deadline for the UN Security Council to sanction the use of force to disarm Iraq.

But despite the renewed pressure, there is no sign that either France or Russia - which have both threatened to use their veto - intend to change tack.

President Bush declared Monday would see the "moment of truth for the world", as he issued the deadline at a summit with the UK and Spanish prime ministers.

The Security Council is scheduled to hold a closed door meeting at 1000 local time (1500 GMT).

BBC Diplomatic correspondent Barnaby Mason says it is hard to see the final Security Council discussions being anything more than going through the motions.

The only uncertainty is whether the resolution will be put to a vote, but the chances are that - with defeat almost inevitable - it will not be, our correspondent says.

White House officials suggest that if it quickly becomes obvious that no progress can be made, President Bush could address the American people on Monday night.

The speech will not be an immediate declaration of war, but it will give Saddam Hussein only a few further hours to leave Iraq or face an attack, according to the BBC's Justin Webb in Washington.

'No order'

"Late last night...I was advised by the US Government to pull out our inspectors from Baghdad," the UN's chief nuclear weapons inspector Mohammed ElBaradei said on Monday.

Similar advice had been given to the chemical and biological weapons inspectors led by Dr Hans Blix, Mr ElBaradei told a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors in Vienna.

A UN spokesman in Baghdad was quoted as saying no order to evacuate the inspectors had so far been received.

Ahead of the Security Council meeting, the French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin once again said a second resolution was unacceptable.

The Russian President Vladimir Putin - who has recently avoided public comments on the subject of a veto - said anything but a peaceful solution to the Iraq crisis would be a mistake with serious consequences.

China - another veto-wielding opponent of military action - remained adamant on Monday that the Iraq issue should resolved through the UN.

Against the backdrop of last-ditch diplomacy, Mr Blix has been working on a programme to submit to the Security Council on how to complete the disarmament process in Iraq.

Iraqi leaders responded defiantly to President Bush's ultimatum and correspondents in the capital report that most people believe that war is imminent.

In Baghdad, the BBC's Rageh Omar says that despite an appearance of everyday normality, there is an unmistakeable sense of heightened anxiety.

Defensive positions are being increased in the city, enormous queues have formed at petrol stations and government ministries are moving out their computers, faxes and other valuables.

President Saddam Hussein appeared prepared for war, warning that if Iraq is attacked the battle will be "wherever there is sky, land and water in the entire world."

And Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabre told an Arabic television station that tens of thousands of Iraqi men and women were ready to be martyrs for any war against the "treacherous" American enemy.

Frustration

US forces in the Gulf now exceed 250,000 personnel and both US and UK forces say they are ready for any military assault.

To Address The Nation

Sunday's meeting in the Azores of US, UK and Spanish leaders - which Iraq has branded a "summit of outlaws" - represented a final push to try to obtain enough support among Security Council members to make a vote on a new resolution worthwhile.

After weeks of diplomatic wrangling, they have only managed to win certain support on the 15-seat Security Council from Bulgaria whereas they need nine sympathetic votes.

At a news conference after Sunday's summit, President Bush made clear his frustration with France's threat to veto a second resolution.

"We have an expression in Texas that says, 'Show your cards'," he said.

"France has shown its card. Now we have to see tomorrow [Monday] what that card meant."