US hints it may be ready to compromise on Iraq resolution

The United States continued to push the United Nations to impose the toughest possible rules on weapons inspections in Iraq while giving the first indication that it may none the less be willing to compromise on the format of a Security Council resolution.

The White House said that President George Bush, who has been waging parallel campaigns for strongly worded resolutions from both the Security Council and the US Congress, planned to make an important speech on Iraq on Monday evening.

Hans Blix, the UN weapons inspector, was in Washington yesterday for talks with the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and Mr Bush's chief foreign policy adviser, Condoleezza Rice. Mr Blix indicated on Thursday that he would postpone resuming inspections until the Security Council had agreed a resolution. The Pentagon said it believed Iraq had anticipated the resumption of the arms inspections and was concealing all evidence of illegal weapons.

There were the first signs yesterday that the US might be willing to back off from a draft text circulated in the UN earlier this week that drew a sharply hostile reaction from Paris, Moscow and Beijing. It included a blunt threat of military force in the event that Iraq made any attempt to impede the inspections once they begin. With prodding from Britain, the US is now considering an approach proposed by the French President, Jacques Chirac. He sees a first resolution clarifying new rules for the conduct of the inspections. The warning of military punishment would come in a second resolution that would only be adopted if Iraq fell foul of the new UN demands.

One US administration official told Reuters news agency: "We've not decided specifically [on two resolutions]. We still want one resolution but we're exploring with the British and the French ways of bridging the difference between the resolution that we want and the two the French want."

While Britain has stood by the US in demanding a single text with a clear threat of military reprisals, the Government has discreetly been pressing on Washington the need to consider at least a variation on the French formula. London fears that the US text as it now stands would be vetoed by France and Russia.

The wrangling over the Security Council resolution is holding up the timetable for inspections. Mr Blix reached an agreement on practical arrangements with Iraq on Tuesday, in theory allowing him to restart inspections on 19 October.

But at the Security Council on Thursday Mr Blix admitted that "loose ends" remained and that it would be "awkward" if he went to Iraq while the Council was still debating a new resolution.

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, restated his preference that Mr Blix be allowed to deploy his teams without delay. Speaking in Moscow, he said he believed "that it's necessary to ensure the earliest deployment of the ... inspectors in that country".