Effectively sidelining the UN, the draft resolution would support the creation of the interim Iraqi authority and assign a new UN “special co-ordinator” to work alongside the allies in creating the new administration.

The proposal would end UN sanctions on Iraq without any further role for UN weapons inspectors and phase out the existing UN “Oil-for-Food” programme.

Victorious in battle, London and Washington are seeking to press home their diplomatic advantage by pushing for a vote on the new resolution before the end of the current phase of the UN ‘Oil-for-Food” programme on June 3.

Diplomats said that other Security Council members had little stomach for another bruising fight with Britain and the United States after the diplomatic row over the war. “I do not think anyone is going to cause too much trouble, given what happened last time,” one UN official said.

France and Russia, two veto-bearing powers that enjoyed broad support in their opposition to the war, would find themselves isolated in the 15-nation council if they tried to block the lifting of sanctions. Germany, their erstwhile ally, has already signalled that it is ready to end sanctions without demanding that UN inspectors first certify Iraq free of weapons of mass destruction, and Berlin is considering sending German peacekeepers to the country.

The ambassador from one of the six “swing voters” on the council who helped to block a “war resolution” in the run-up to the conflict said that his country was likely to support the latest US-British proposal.

Under the proposal, the two countries would write to the Security Council president acknowledging their responsibilities as “occupying powers” in Iraq. The council would endorse their presence for “an initial period of 12 months . . . to continue thereafter as necessary unless the Security Council decides otherwise.”

The draft resolution would “support the formation, by the people of Iraq with the help of the ‘occupying powers’ and working with the (UN) Special Co-ordinator, of an Iraqi interim authority as a transitional administration run by Iraqis until a permanent government is established.”

The Security Council would lift the 12-year-old oil embargo and other non-military sanctions and wind up the “Oil-for-Food” programme over four months by paying off contracts.

Iraq’s oil revenues would then be deposited in an “Iraqi assistance fund” at the central bank under the supervision of an international advisory board, including representatives of the UN, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. But the oil money would be spent for the benefit of the Iraqi people “at the direction of” the occupying powers, in consultation with the Iraqi interim authority.

The new UN co-ordinator would play a political as well as an humanitarian role. The draft resolution says his tasks would include “working with the ‘occupying powers’ and the Iraqi people to form a new government”.

Diplomats say the United States is pushing for the UN to name Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN human rights commissioner, as its co-ordinator in Iraq. The charismatic Brazilian, a rising star in the UN system, is said to be interested in changing jobs. But insiders say Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, fears that he may use the post as a springboard to seek Mr Annan’s job.

The UN secretariat has drawn up a list of four Arabic-speaking figures for the job: former prime ministers from Jordan, Morocco and Egypt and Lakhdar Brahimi, the veteran UN official who oversees its operation in Afghanistan.

The resolution does not mention the UN weapons inspectors. John Negroponte, the US Ambassador to the UN, said that he saw no role for them in the “foreseeable future” despite Russia’s and France’s insistence that they certify Iraq free of weapons of mass destruction.

The diplomacy unfolded under the threat of unilateral US action. Officials have signalled that the US is ready to breach UN sanctions if they are not lifted. This week the US lifted its own sanctions which have prevented American companies exporting equipment to Iraq for a decade.

US Assistant Secretary of State Kim Holmes declared himself pleased with talks he had with top Russian officials on the draft resolution.

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