BERLIN, April 1: The United States said for the first time on Thursday it expects a new U.N. resolution over Iraq before a sovereignty handover in response to Western allies' pressure for Washington to seek a UN mandate.

Countries such as France and Spain have said they did not want to be involved in Iraq after the July 1 handover without a new UN resolution underpinning the international community's presence there.

The United States had previously said only it was willing to consider the possibility of a new resolution. But on Thursday Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States now expected the measure to be passed before it formally transfers power to an Iraqi government.

"I think there will be a new resolution as we move closer to the first of July," the top US diplomat said in an interview with ZDF German Television. Despite agreeing to return to the United Nations, the United States has not said how much authority it would allow the world body in any new resolution.

Mr Powell noted Spain had pressured Washington to allow the United Nations a "political role" or it would withdraw its troops from Iraq. "Let's see what kind of U.N. resolution may be emerging over the next several months," Mr Powell said.

The United States invaded Iraq last year without U.N. approval and against the objections of many countries opposed to America's first war based on a doctrine of preemption.

After July 1, the United States will still have well over 100,000 troops in Iraq. Critics of the US policy worry that Washington will effectively remain an occupying power even if it hammers out a deal over a new U.N. resolution that gives the sovereignty handover a legal stamp of approval.

Many nations remain wary of being seen to help the United States in Iraq because Washington has failed to unearth weapons of mass destruction, the Bush administration's main justification for the invasion.