"The report is false," Struck said of a front-page article in Sunday's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung quoting senior government officials.

The newspaper said Washington had asked Germany to prepare to provide an unspecified number of Patriot missiles as part of the mobilization in the region for possible strikes against Iraq.

The officials quoted said that Washington had not specified where it wanted the missiles deployed.

But they said that request would be difficult to refuse if it was intended to defend Israel or NATO ally Turkey.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has ruled out any direct involvement of German troops in a war on Iraq, but he recently indicated he would not prevent Washington from using German airspace or US military bases in the country to mount an attack on Iraq.

Schroeder has also said that Germany is one of some 50 countries to have been sounded out so far by the United States on possible assistance in the event of a war on Iraq. He said at last week's NATO summit in Prague the request would be "carefully examined".

SPACE.WIRE