PARIS: France voiced its toughest opposition yet to the US-sponsored draft UN resolution threatening military action against Iraq on Monday, and warned Washington that any attempt to bring about a “regime change” would violate international law.

In a front-page article in Le Monde, the French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, said France wanted Iraq disarmed, but could not and would not support action that threatened to further destabilise the Middle East, without full UN approval.

“We will not give carte blanche to military action,” he wrote. “We cannot accept a resolution that authorizes at this stage the recourse to force, without the issue coming back before the UN Security Council. France refuses an intervention that would not take fully into account all that is required for collective security.”

But President Jacques Chirac hinted for the first time that, providing those conditions were met, France — a permanent member of the security council — would play its part in any UN-backed action.

“If international prevention efforts fail ... we should be ready to assume our responsibilities,” he said.

The US draft, agreed with Britain last week, proposes giving Baghdad one week to accept its demand to disarm, and 30 days to declare all its weapons of mass destruction.

The draft threatens military action - which could include a unilateral US strike - if Iraq fails to comply.

De Villepin said a two-step UN approach proposed by Chirac “was the only one capable of ensuring control at every stage of the crisis”.

Chirac wants two resolutions, the second authorizing military action only if Baghdad does not give weapons inspectors the unfettered access demanded in the first.

The French foreign minister also warned that the Bush administration’s policy of regime change in Iraq was illegal. “Any action aiming for regime change would contradict the rules of international law and open the door to things getting out of hand,” he said.

France, Russia and China have all expressed strong misgivings about the US proposal. Russia distanced itself further from US by criticizing bombing raids on Iraq this weekend.

Jack Straw and Colin Powell prepared the ground on Monday for the tabling of the Anglo-American resolution at the UN this week.

That will herald the start of what diplomats are calling the “real negotiations” as the “sceptical three” spell out their key demands. —Dawn/The Guardian News Service.