ISLAMABAD, March 18: The foreign minister said on Monday Pakistan has been disappointed by the UN Security Council as it had failed to reach a consensus on the Iraq issue.

In a statement distributed in the National Assembly, he said President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali and he had tried their best to defuse differences in the international community on the conflict.

Foreign ministers and other high-level representatives of United States, France, China, Russia, United Kingdom, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Mexico, Bangladesh and many other countries had discussed the issue with him, he said.

Mr Kasuri said Pakistan’s principled stand on this issue had been consistently based on three main elements: firstly, Iraq must fully and speedily comply with all its obligations under the relevant Security Council resolutions; secondly, Iraq’s disarmament should be secured by peaceful means through a credible inspection process; thirdly, the Security Councils’s unity in achieving these objectives was necessary.