The United Nations is expected to receive a revised resolution from the United States on Wednesday that gives Iraq a "final opportunity" to comply with its disarmament obligations and leaves the door open for a military strike.The new text, which Washington hopes will be adopted by the end of the week, offers a follow-up role to the 15-nation Security Council, as France had insisted.

But the draft, obtained by Reuters, still makes military action possible if U.N. arms inspectors report a serious violation in accounting for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

U.S. officials were fairly confident that France, which led resistance to their original proposals, would agree to the new text, although it falls short of Paris' earlier demands that only the council could authorize any use of force.

But a French diplomat said no decision would be made until President Jacques Chirac and Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin "can make an assessment of all of the text."

It is unclear if Russia and China, who, like France, feared a unilateral U.S. military strike under the guise of United Nations approval, would agree to the resolution.

The United States and Britain, co-sponsors of the resolution, called a closed-door meeting of the 15 council members for Wednesday to present the document.

At the White House, spokesman Ari Fleischer said: "The president is hopeful that the United Nations Security Council will speak and speak strongly to pass an effective and tough resolution that makes clear that Iraq is in material breach and that there will be consequences if Iraq doesn't honor its obligations."

The draft is the third U.S. version circulated among thee council's five permanent and 10 elected rotating members since early last month.

A Security Council resolution needs a minimum of nine votes for adoption and no veto from its five permanent members -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China.

MATERIAL BREACH

The new resolution threatens Iraq with "serious consequences" and says non-compliance would constitute a "further material breach" of the Gulf War cease-fire resolution, a phrase that could be interpreted as a license to use force.

But it also says such serious violations would be "reported to the council for assessment."

U.N. weapons inspectors, who are to get new sweeping powers, would report major violations by Iraq after which the Security Council would meet immediately to assess the situation.

Iraq has to accept the terms of the measure within seven days of adoption. It then has to declare within 30 days all weapons of mass destruction programs and related materials, including items that could also be used for civilian purposes.

The inspectors, barred from Iraq for nearly four years, are to resume their work within 30 days after adoption of the resolution and report back to the council within 60 days.

The arms inspectors are to get unconditional and unrestricted access to any place they want to survey, including President Saddam Hussein's palace compounds.

Saddam has agreed to let inspectors return, and, in a possible policy shift, said Iraq might comply with a new disarmament resolution if it did not "provide a cover for America's ill intentions."

Russia welcomed Saddam's position on Tuesday.

"It's another sign of Baghdad's readiness to work with the international community," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

In Tuesday's online New York Times, Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said Saudi Arabia had yet to decide if it would let the United States use its airspace and bases for war.

Clarifying earlier comments, he said in a telephone interview with the Times that Saudi Arabia had to "cooperate" with the United Nations if Iraq thwarted U.N. resolutions.

"That does not mean we have to join the fighting, or indeed to leave our bases for use," he said. "This is a sovereign right of Saudi Arabia to decide when the time comes."

PHOTO CAPTION
Kuwaiti soldier walks through a military scrap yard containing the remnants of Iraqi army tanks destroyed by coalition forces during the Gulf War , November 5, 2002. The United Nations is close to agreeing to a resolution on Iraq that gives Washington scope to act alone if Baghdad blocks arms inspections, Secretary of State Colin Powell told a French newspaper Nov. 5. (Chris Helgren/Reuters)