THE United States will table a revised draft resolution on Iraq at the United Nations today that gives Iraq “a final opportunity” to disarm through weapons inspections.

The latest American proposal, which is likely to be adopted overwhelmingly by the end of the week, makes clear that any Iraqi non-compliance would constitute a “material breach” of the Gulf War ceasefire — wording that allows a resumption of military action. In a nod to France the text offers a limited follow-up role to the UN Security Council.

The draft resolution will strengthen the mandate of the UN weapons inspectors and require Iraq to declare all its weapons of mass destruction within 30 days. The key provision says that the Security Council “decides that false statements or omissions in the declarations submitted by Iraq pursuant to this resolution and failure by Iraq at any time to comply with and co-operate fully in the implementation of this resolution shall constitute a further material breach of Iraq’s obligations and will be reported to the Council for assessment . . . ”

Diplomats said that France had signalled its willingness to go along with the compromise, even though it falls short of Paris’s initial insistence that any decision on the use of force be reserved to a second decision of the Security Council.

Britain and the United States are now trying to convince Russia and China to back the proposal so that they can win the votes of 14 of the 15 Security Council members, with Syria the only abstainer.

News of the draft resolution yesterday came as America celebrated the arrests of suspected al-Qaeda operatives or agents in France, Indonesia and Hong Kong. French intelligence agents detained eight people in connection with an attack in April on a synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba that killed 19 people, 14 of them German tourists.

The suspects were taken into custody and include the parents and brother of Nizar Nawar, the alleged suicide bomber who carried out the attack. In June the al-Qaeda network claimed that Mr Nawar, 24, was one of its operatives. The eight suspects, two of them women, were placed in preventive detention, which can last four days in cases related to alleged terrorist acts.

In Hong Kong three men were arrested over an alleged attempt to buy four Stinger anti-aircraft missiles for al-Qaeda from undercover FBI agents, the Hong Kong Government said. It was the first time that Hong Kong authorities had reported any al-Qaeda-linked activities in the Chinese territory. The three detainees, two Pakistanis and a US citizen of Indian origin, appeared in court to fight an extradition request from the US.

Indonesian police arrested two suspects in the Bali bombings. One man was picked up in the city of Medan on the island of Sumatra on Monday. A second man was detained in the capital, Jakarta, yesterday. Police said that the men resembled two of three suspects described by witnesses.

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Afghanistan News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• 'New York has lost its edge'
• Copenhagen will fail – and quite right too
• More than 17,000 new underwater species found