An Arab peace mission aimed at preventing war in Iraq was in doubt Thursday after Egypt's news agency reported that its visit to Baghdad had been postponed. The delegation was to meet in Bahrain on Thursday with the king, Sheik Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and then travel the following day to the Iraqi capital.

Early Thursday, however, Egypt's Middle East News Agency said it had learned that the meeting with the Bahraini king had been canceled and "the delegation also postponed its visit to Baghdad."

The agency said the secretary-general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, was contacting "concerned parties" to determine "if the delegation would go to Baghdad."

The agency gave no indication why the trip was postponed. But the announcement suggested that the Iraqi leadership may not want to receive an Arab delegation if it urged Saddam Hussein to make concessions to the United Nations or even step down, as has been proposed by some Gulf countries.

The delegation, however, has not publicly endorsed calls for Saddam to step down and leave the country. On Monday, Syrian President Bashar Assad predicted that Saddam would refuse to accept the delegation's proposals - regardless of what they are.

He told the Syrian parliament that the Arab League would end up "legitimizing the war that will take place."

During an Arab summit earlier this month in Egypt, leaders agreed to send a high-ranking delegation to the U.N. Security Council and Iraq in a last-ditch effort to avert war.

The delegation, which included the foreign ministers of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Tunisia, Bahrain as well as Moussa, went to New York and held talks with member states of the council.

Other Key Developments Concerning Iraq

*_ Britain set out a list of conditions for Iraq's disarmament, hoping to break an impasse at the United Nations that has left Prime Minister Tony Blair vulnerable at home because of his support for the tough U.S. line. The conditions include a TV appearance by Saddam Hussein renouncing weapons of mass destruction.

*_ President Bush spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Blair and the leaders of Mexico, Chile and Pakistan, all members of the Security Council, the White House said. The Bush administration suggested for the first time that voting against the U.S.-backed Security Council resolution could damage a country's relationship with the United States. The administration also said French President Jacques Chirac was sending "precisely the wrong signal to Baghdad" by threatening to veto the resolution.

*_ Asked about the British conditions and an expected new deadline, Russia's U.N. Ambassador Sergey Lavrov told CNN: "We would not be really in favor of considering some artificial dates if they are not coming from inspectors, or accepted by them." Russia also said it will not take part in the "dangerous precedent" of supporting regime change in Iraq.

*_ Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio said the U.S.-backed resolution may be withdrawn because of France's threatened veto. A Foreign Ministry official later played down Palacio's remarks, saying she was talking about a hypothetical situation, and declined to say what kind of disarmament deadline Saddam might get if no resolution is voted on.

*_ U.S. aircraft dropped 120,000 leaflets over several sites between Baghdad and the southern Iraqi city of Basra. The messages included a warning to the Iraqi military not to use chemical or biological weapons against U.S. or allied troops, according to U.S. Central Command.

*_ Iraq displayed a pilotless aircraft that resembled a large model plane with wings apparently made of balsa wood. It said the drone was the one the U.S. claims was designed to deliver chemical and biological weapons.

*_ Iraq has opened a training camp for Arab volunteers willing to carry out suicide bombings against U.S. forces in case they invade Iraq, Arab media and Iraqi dissidents said.

*_ Soldiers fired shots in the air and police clashed with protesters as they tried to enter the port in Iskenderun, Turkey, where U.S. forces are unloading equipment ahead of a possible war.

PHOTO CAPTION

Secretary general of the Arab League Amr Moussa chairs the opening session of the 15th annual Arab summit at Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, Saturday, March 1, 2003. (AP Photo/Dina Ismail) - Mar 01