The report said that Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told a closed-doors meeting of parliament's foreign affairs committee Wednesday that he would be willing to send MedEvac planes from Germany's Bundeswehr armed forces to Iraq with a UN mandate.

If the UN were to give NATO such a mandate, which Die Welt said was expected, then "we will not stand in NATO's way", the newspaper quoted Schroeder as telling deputies. Such a move would also require the approval of the lower house of parliament.

The chancellor also reportedly said that Germany would do more to support NATO member countries already strongly engaged in Iraq such as Britain and Poland.

Die Welt said that Schroeder had told deputies that he was "going out on a limb" with the decision, following his government's fierce opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq and its steadfast refusal to commit any troops to the country.

A government spokesman did not deny the report but said that Berlin's position remained "unchanged".

"There will be no military presence by the Bundeswehr in Iraq," the spokesman said.

"If a legitimate Iraqi government should ask for humanitarian aid with a UN mandate, no one would be able to refuse."

"We have no intention of changing our policy in Iraq," Schroeder said late Wednesday at a gathering of his Social Democrat party.

"We now intend to give humanitarian aid, above all to those who are injured," he added.

WAR.WIRE