Local media reports quoted an unidentified US administration official as saying that US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher was expected to reject the plan later in the day.

"I think it's fair to say that we are not particularly impressed," the official said.

Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said earlier Tuesday that his country had proposed to the United States and Iraq a peace plan aimed at ending the ongoing military campaign in Iraq.

"We have made the proposal and we are waiting for a positive response," the Saudi foreign minister said. "We have not been rebuffed."

(Xinhua News Agency March 26, 2003)