France said today it saw no need at present for a new United Nations resolution that the United States and Britain may propose to authorise war on Iraq.
Foreign Minister Mr Dominique de Villepin, who has refused to rule out using France's veto in the Security Council to brake what Paris sees as a US rush to war, told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper in an interview that Paris opposed having a new resolution as long as arms inspections were continuing.
Speaking after his defence at the UN on Friday of the continuation of efforts to disarm Iraq through inspections under November's resolution 1441, he added: "This resolution sets no deadline. As long as the inspectors on the ground can show us new progress, there are no grounds for changing course."
"One hears that a second resolution could be put forward by the Americans and British. For us, such a resolution is not necessary as long as the inspections keep moving ahead."
Washington says President Saddam Hussein has already broken the terms of resolution 1441 by failing to cooperate fully in a process intended to ensure Iraq has no nuclear, chemical or biological weapons 12 years after the UN ordered it to disarm in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War.
That resolution calls for "serious consequences" in the event of Baghdad's failure to cooperate and Washington says that is mandate enough for it to send in its troops. In the face of resistance led by France, Russia and Germany, however, it would prefer broader UN backing and to avoid a rift with its allies.
Mr Villepin said: "France's conviction is that this resolution (1441) offers many possibilities that have not all been explored yet...If we come to an impasse, it will be up to the Security Council to consider all the possible options, including a resort to force. But there can be nothing automatic about that."
President Jacques Chirac repeated today France's view that UN inspectors should be given more time and resources to ensure the peaceful disarmament of Iraq but that the use of force was an option if that failed.
"I am simply betting that we can obtain greater cooperation from Iraq," Mr Chirac told US magazine Time in a French-language transcript of an interview released by his office.
"It is up to the inspectors to report back. We have confidence in them...If we have to increase their means, we increase their means."
If the inspectors reported that they could not continue to work, however, or that Iraq had not complied with disarmament demands from the UN: "Then the Security Council would have the right to debate the report and take its decision," Mr Chirac said.
"And, in that case, France naturally excludes no option." Paris has never ruled out using force to disarm Iraq.