The UN Security Council appeared today to be moving closer to compromise on an Iraq resolution.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said that a compromise solution on sending weapons inspectors to Iraq was looking increasingly likely.
"I think that the council will approve a new resolution about strengthening the possibilities of inspectors and sending them to Iraq again with the demand that Iraq fulfills their demands," Mr Annan said.
"If it (Iraq) continues not to report to the Security Council then the council can take a decision about the consequences," he told deputies in Kazakhstan's capital Astana during a 12-day tour of eastern and central Asia.
The UN Security Council has been meeting in open session to discuss the Iraq issue ahead of a crucial vote on the conditions under which UN weapons inspectors will return to Baghdad, which they left in 1998, to verify Iraqi assertions it has no nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.
The United States, backed by Britain, has been pressing for a single resolution that would trigger automatic military action if Iraq fails to allow unfettered access to suspected weapons sites.
France, largely backed by Russia, favors two resolutions, with a second vote needed to authorise military action.
But a compromise looked imminent in the deadlocked council, with Washington about to offer a deal acceptable to fellow permanent members France and Russia.
The deal would enable arms inspectors to start work in Iraq backed with only an implicit threat of force, diplomats said. A likely US draft resolution would set in place a two-stage process, convening the Security Council before any military attack on Iraq.
But both US Secretary of State Colin Powell and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw again made clear the United States and Britain were prepared to act without the council's approval if necessary.
"We reserve the right to act within international law in respect of the use of force, which may or may not be covered by a new resolution," Mr Straw told the BBC.
But Mr Chirac said the "logic" of international law should take priority, to counter "adventurism".
"In Beirut, let us reaffirm this fundamental credo: resorting to the use of force can only be a last resort," Mr Chirac said in a speech at the start of the three-day summit of French-speaking nations in the Lebanese capital.
AFP