Global Policy Forum

By Michael White, Ewen MacAskill
and Richard Norton-Taylor

Tony Blair jumped the gun yesterday when he unequivocally promised that the new government in Baghdad will be able to exercise a veto over controversial US-led military operations after the handover of sovereignty on June 30.

The prime minister's remarks at his monthly Downing Street press conference appeared to go further than the White House, Pentagon or Foreign Office. It was left to Downing Street officials to insist that the remarks applied to British forces, though not necessarily to US troops. The prime minister, trying to address widespread scepticism in the Arab world and Europe that the transfer of power will be genuine, said: "Let me make it 100% clear, after June 30 there will be the full transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi government. "If there is a political decision as to whether you go into a place like Falluja in a particular way, that has to be done with the consent of the Iraqi government and the final political control remains with the Iraqi government."

Mr Blair's words go significantly further than the stance of Washington. The US secretary of state, Colin Powell, spelled out the US position, stressing that if they disagreed with the new Iraqi authorities on certain operations, "US forces remain under US command and will do what is necessary to protect themselves."

The new Iraqi caretaker government will be unveiled by the UN envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi within days. Last night Hussain Shahristani, a Shi'ite nuclear scientist imprisoned under Saddam Hussein, emerged as a favourite to be named prime minister in the government. Adnan Pachachi, a Sunni Muslim and former Iraqi foreign minister, was tipped as a possible president. But the relationship between the government and the 138,000-strong multinational force remains ill-defined and forms the crux of negotiations being held in the UN security council.

France, a permanent member of the council, is sceptical about the power that the caretaker government will exercise over the US-led forces. The French president, Jacques Chirac, speaking to Mr Bush by phone before Mr Blair's press conference, sought changes in the draft resolution setting out the transfer of power, which was published on Monday. He expressed concern primarily about the role of the US-led military forces and about control of oil revenues. "The president of the republic reiterated his conviction that the transfer of sovereignty must be real and perceived as such by the Iraqis themselves - the date of June 30 must mark a real change," Mr Chirac's office said.

Russia, which is also a permanent member, signalled that it too would be seeking changes. In Baghdad Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer, president of the Iraqi governing council, said the resolution fell short of expectations. He did not elaborate. Britain is confident that a resolution can be passed early in June and that support for it will be unanimous. Mr Blair sidestepped the issue of how long the multinational force will remain in Iraq.

Ali Alawi, the Iraqi defence minister, who is likely to be part of the caretaker government, said in London yesterday that the presence of foreign troops would be unnecessary within a year. But British military chiefs fear that their troops will still be in Iraq in 2006. They are frustrated by the continuing delays in a political decision - which they now believe will not be announced until after the June 10 European and local elections - to send thousands more British troops to Iraq. The sooner they go in, military commanders hope, the sooner they will get out.

But they want to leave on their own terms, not those of the Americans, and within an overall and clear strategic and political plan. After pressure from Mr Blair and the US, the chiefs of staff have drawn up detailed plans for a force of about 3,000 soldiers to be deployed in south central Iraq and the holy city of Najaf. The favoured plan is to send a force of up to 1,500 Royal Marines, backed up by a brigade headquarters and armoured infantry.