Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix last night ordered Iraq to destroy dozens of missiles with ranges that violated UN limits.

The order confronts the Iraqi government with a serious dilemma - whether to give up a valuable weapons system its military would almost certainly use to defend the country in a war against a US-led coalition, or whether to refuse to comply and face accusations that it is not co-operating with UN inspectors.

Mr Blix handed a letter to Iraq's UN Ambassador, Mohammed Al-Douri, at UN headquarters, where they then sat down for an extended discussion.

Mr Blix is also preparing a list of more than 35 outstanding issues surrounding Iraq's disarmament that he will present to his advisory board of commissioners when they meet on Monday at UN headquarters.

The stepped-up pressure on Baghdad comes as the US tries to focus the UN Security Council's attention on illegal Iraqi weapons activities.

Iraq's response to the order to destroy its missiles will test its co-operation as negotiations for possible war enter a crucial stage, with Washington and London preparing a new UN resolution that could pave the way to military action.

UN officials said Mr Blix ordered the destruction of Al Samoud 2 missiles and machinery to produce missile motors because they exceed the 93-mile limit set by UN resolutions at the end of the 1991 Gulf War.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tony Blair has urged the UN to send a "clear, united" message to Iraqi president Saddam Hussein that he faces military attack unless he disarms voluntarily.

He said Saddam's regime appeared to be reducing, rather than increasing, cooperation with UN weapons inspectors.

Speaking following talks in Rome with his Italian counterpart, Silvio Berlusconi, Mr Blair warned that war would be unavoidable if Saddam passed up his final opportunity to surrender his weapons of mass destruction.

"Iraq has cooperated less in the last few days," Mr Blair told a Press conference.

"The only circumstances in which Saddam is going to disarm peacefully are circumstances where he gets a clear, united message on behalf of the international community: disarm peacefully or you will be disarmed by force."

A UK-US draft resolution is expected to be tabled at the UN on Monday, and the two allies evidently are willing to risk diplomatic defeat. President George Bush has vowed to disarm Iraqi President Saddam Hussein one way or another - with UN support or with the help of a "coalition of the willing".

France, which heads an anti-war bloc, has the power to kill the resolution by veto.

Mr Blair said the terms of the new resolution were still being discussed among allies and other partners on the Security Council.

The Prime Minister will meet Pope John Paul II at the Vatican today. The Pope has been outspoken in his opposition to military action against Baghdad.

Mr Blair was asked if he expected a clash of views.

He said: "I obviously know the views of the Pope very well and they are very clear. Let me just make one thing also plain.

"We do not want war. No one wants war. The reason why, last summer, instead of starting a war, we went to the UN, was in order to have a peaceful solution to this.

"But there is a moral dimension to this question too. If we fail to disarm Saddam peacefully, then where does that leave the authority of the UN? And if we leave Saddam in charge of Iraq with his weapons of mass destruction, where does that leave the Iraqi people who are the principal victims of Saddam?"

* Turkey has reached a "broad agreement" with the US to allow combat forces to be based in the country in case of war with Iraq, foreign minister Yasar Yakis said last night. US Secretary of State Colin Powell also said some progress had been made on other "resolvable" differences with Turkey.