Saddam Hussein's deputy is pressing ahead with a diplomatic offensive by stating negotiations can still avert a possible US attack.
Iraq's vice president Mr Taha Yassin Ramadan says talks with the United Nations over the return of arms inspectors to the country are not deadlocked.
Washington accuses Saddam Hussein of rebuilding facilities to produce mass-destruction weapons and wants him removed from power.
UN weapon inspectors have charged with dismantling Iraq's mass-destruction weapons since the end of the 1991 Gulf War have been barred from the country since 1998.
Mr Ramadan is on a three-day visit to Syria as part of what appears to be an Iraqi diplomatic offensive to rally opposition against a possible US attack.
Syria, which has forged close ties with Iraq in recent years after decades of intense enmity, says they will side with Baghdad in the event of a US attack.
Syria was part of the allied coalition that fought Iraq in the Gulf War.