DOWNINGTOWN (USA), Oct 22: The United States warned on Tuesday that the United Nations “does not have forever” to pass a new resolution aimed at disarming Iraq, and strove to win support for the measure from wary allies.

“The United Nations is entering the final stages on this, and we would like to see an agreement reached,” said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer. “It is coming down to the end. The United Nations does not have forever.”

In another move, Secretary of State Colin Powell pressed his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov by telephone on the need for the UN Security Council to resolve differences over the US-authored initiative, a State Department official said.

In addition to Ivanov, Powell spoke to British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and UN chief Kofi Annan about a revised text the United States submitted to the five permanent members of the Security Council on Monday, the official said.

The official would not elaborate on any of the conversations but said they all focused on the effort to forge a consensus among the permanent five on the Iraq resolution.

Fleischer also downplayed the negative reaction from France and Russia to the compromise US resolution, saying such criticisms — “sometimes which are not supported by what is said in private” — were to be expected.

The United States has made no secret of its growing impatience with thus far unsuccessful attempts to reach agreement on a single resolution that demands that Iraq disarm or face serious consequences.

“If the United Nations can’t make its mind up, we will lead a coalition to disarm Saddam Hussein for the sake of peace,” US President George W. Bush said here as he campaigned for fellow Republicans ahead of the November 5 elections.

Top White House aides have said that Bush is free to act under a resolution the US Congress passed two weeks ago authorizing the president to wage war on Iraq when he decides that diplomacy has run its course.

In a bid to get the support of Russia and France — which are holding out for a two-step approach — the United States dropped its demand for an automatic authorization of the use of force to compel Iraqi disarmament if it does not comply with the resolution.

But earlier Tuesday, both Russia and France expressed deep reservations about the new text.

Russian news agencies quoted an “informed Moscow source” as describing the text as “disappointing” and “not very different from previous US-British proposals, which were unacceptable to Russia and other permanent members of the UN Security Council.”

Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said that much work remains to be done on the new draft before an agreement can be reached.

Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix said the permanent five were still “some days” from reaching a unanimous agreement on a resolution to send arms monitors back to Iraq.

Ambassadors representing the five permanent members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — resumed talks on the draft in New York as Powell was making his calls.—AFP