The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, has said the new interim Iraqi government will have "final political control" and a power of veto over coalition forces following the handover of power on June 30th.
At the same time he has rejected calls for a timetable for the withdrawal of coalition forces, and made clear that any additional British troops deployed - like those already there - will not be subject to Iraqi command.
Speaking at his monthly press conference in Downing Street yesterday the Prime Minister stressed it would be for the Iraqi government to decide if and when the American-led multinational force should leave the country. He insisted "the issue of sovereignty will be completely laid to rest" under the terms of the Anglo-American draft resolution now before the UN.
"Let me make it 100 per cent clear," said Mr Blair, "after June 30th there will be the full transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi government Our position and the Iraqi position is the same. Our troops should only remain as long as it is necessary for them to provide the security the Iraqis need in order to make sure the political transition to democracy works."
Mr Blair's comments came as the current Iraqi Defence Minister, Mr Ali Alawi, suggested this should be "a question of months rather than years". However, the Conservatives expressed fears that the proposed new arrangements had the potential "to go wrong" amid uncertainty as to whether London and Washington yet have a fully shared understanding about the extent of the authority to be exercised by the new interim government.
Asked if the new government could veto controversial or sensitive military operations similar to the recent American assault on Fallujah, Mr Blair replied: "Yes that is the tough question. If there is a political decision as to whether you go into a place like Fallujah 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. That's what the transfer of sovereignty means."
But Conservative spokesman Mr Nicholas Soames told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme: "There is potential for all that to go wrong. It will need to be tightened up and made very clear. One of the questions we will want answered is what will be the actual full relationship between the interim Iraqi government and what I hope will be a new multinational force." Mr Soames continued: "I think that is very important, the unity of command and the chain of command is absolutely essential for any mission. It is one of the things that the Americans and ourselves are both very leery of, having been involved in UN missions earlier that have gone, to some extent, wobbly."
Mr Blair said that as "the political control shifts" allied forces would continue in Iraq "with the consent of the Iraqi government", while acknowledging that the detail remained to be worked through on subsequent agreements necessary to cover "operational procedures". The key to withdrawal would be the speed with which it could develop Iraq's own security capacity. "We will stay until we get the job done," he repeated: "The issue is how fast you can get an indigenous Iraqi security service up and running ... that's what governs the timetable." He could not be definitive about future British troop deployments, he said, because no decisions had been taken.
However, he made it clear "no one can order British troops to do things they don't want to do" and that any additional troops sent to Iraq would operate as part of the US-led coalition but under British commanders.