Washington ? In a bid to pre-empt the United States and further divide the United Nations, Iraq reversed course Saturday and said it would not abide by any new U.N. resolution allowing weapons inspectors access to key presidential compounds.

Baghdad’s latest gambit came as the Bush administration was preparing for a week of intense lobbying at home and at the United Nations to win passage of at least one resolution needed to confront Iraqi President Saddam Hussein over his failure to surrender weapons of mass destruction.

While Washington is still pursuing a diplomatic course, the administration is also fine-tuning military plans in the event Iraq fails to cooperate. President Bush is now reviewing detailed military options delivered to the White House by the Pentagon earlier this month, U.S. officials said Saturday.

“He has options before him, and he is reviewing those options,” White House spokesman Sean McCormack said.

The classified document was drawn up by Gen. Tommy Franks, chief of Central Command, the unit that would orchestrate an offensive in the Persian Gulf region. It outlines the requirements to wage war, including numbers of troops, warplanes, ships and sophisticated munitions, officials said.

Franks, who stopped in Kuwait during a regionwide tour to talk to local commanders, said Saturday that his forces were ready.

“We are prepared to undertake whatever activities and whatever actions we may be directed to take by our nation,” he said. Franks cautioned that no decision had been made.

The Iraqi announcement, delivered after a meeting between Saddam and his top officials, could further complicate delicate diplomatic efforts to avoid the use of force.

“Iraq declared it will not deal with any new resolution that contradicts what has been agreed upon with the U.N. secretary-general,” the government said in a brief announcement read on Iraqi radio.

The move appeared to be an attempt to undermine a sweeping and tough new U.N. resolution that is expected to be circulated Monday at the Security Council by the United States and Britain, U.N. diplomats said Saturday. That resolution would charge U.N. teams with checking any and all sites suspected of having information on nuclear, biological or chemical weapons and ballistic missiles.

For seven years, Baghdad refused entry to the facilities on the grounds that such inspections would infringe on Iraq’s sovereignty. A compromise in 1998 gave inspectors access, but only if they were accompanied by an array of diplomats a deal that prolonged the process and gave Iraq a new channel of appeal, according to former weapons inspectors.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Saturday that Baghdad’s latest ploy was not unexpected.

“Anyone who has watched the past decade has seen the Iraqi government … change their position depending on what they thought was tactically advantageous to them and kind of jerk the United Nations around,” he said.