UN has already approved use of military force, says Straw

The United Nations Security Council has already approved the use of military force against Iraq, Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, said yesterday, warning that any failure by Baghdad to co-operate with the UN weapons inspectors must be met by force.

"If co-operation is denied," he said, "then the UN Security Council has already warned that force must be used." He noted that the latest Security Council resolution, 1441, stipulated "serious consequences" for Iraq for non-compliance. "Diplomatic parlance is notoriously ambiguous, but in this case the terminology had only one meaning: disarmament by force," he said.

Mr Straw was addressing an audience at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London, while British and US officials were trying to finalise a follow-up Security Council resolution that would provide a specific mandate for force, which America said could be before the UN on Monday.