The US and UK seized on the unexpectedly harsh report about Iraq's compliance with UN weapons inspectors to warn Saddam Hussein that time is running out for the disarmament issue to be resolved peacefully. Chief weapons inspector Hans Blix told the UN Security Council on 27 January that Iraq was not co-operating on the substance of UN Resolution 1441, and that chemical and biological weapons materials remained unaccounted for (MEED 27:1:03). US Secretary of State Colin Powell warned that Baghdad's opportunity to disarm peacefully was 'fast coming to an end', while UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who earlier in January rated the chances of war 60-40 against, told the BBC that the possibility of avoiding war had diminished because of an 'unbelievable refusal' by Iraq to co-operate. 'The time is up for Iraq to comply,' said Straw, calling on the Iraqi leader to take advantage of his remaining opportunity to avert war. In New York, US ambassador to the UN John Negroponte said that nothing he had heard from Blix gave him any hope that Iraq intended to carry out its disarmament obligations.