In a rare show of unity, the UN Security Council today extended the Iraq humanitarian program for a month to give itself time to revamp decade-old sanctions against Baghdad.
A resolution, approved by a 15-0 vote, would roll over the UN-Iraq "oil-for-food" program, which expires on Sunday, for 30 days instead of the usual six months.
This would allow council members to continue negotiations on a new US-British plan to lift restrictions on civilian goods imported by Iraq but tighten controls on military-related supplies and smuggling.
In a surprise move, the United States announced it would release nearly $800 million of the more than $3.5 billion worth of contracts to Iraq it has blocked at the United Nations - meeting a prime demand of Russia as well as UN officials. This is in addition to $400 million released last week.
"We have been reevaluating them in light of the new system which we are advocating and proposing and we are looking at the holds through that filter," US Ambassador Mr James Cunningham said.
Russia and United Nations officials have criticized the United States for years on the large number of "holds" it placed on the Iraqi contracts. But Mr Cunningham said the releases were not in exchange for getting Moscow's agreement on today's resolution.