A revised U.S. resolution on Iraq presented to the U.N. Security Council is not acceptable to Russia, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said.

"The U.S. resolution project which was presented yesterday so far does not correspond to the criteria (for a settlement of the Iraqi crisis) which Russia has put forward and by which it stands," Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted Ivanov as saying.

The foreign minister said that Russia would only accept a resolution that does not allow the automatic use of force against Iraq in case it fails to comply with U.S. demands.

"We are prepared to work on a resolution project that would guarantee the effective work of (weapons) inspectors, would be realistic and would not include clauses paving the way for the automatic use of force," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Ivanov as saying.

He said consultations among permanent U.N. Security Council members were under way and would go on during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Mexico later this week.

"If it is necessary, we will discuss this issue with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell when we meet in Mexico," Ivanov said.

Earlier Tuesday, Ivanov reaffirmed informed U.N. arms inspections chief Hans Blix, visiting Moscow, that it was "essential (the inspectors) resume their activities in Iraq very rapidly."

He added that he had discussed the Iraq situation by telephone with Powell and French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin.

France, which with Russia strongly opposed an earlier U.S. resolution authorizing the automatic use of force against Iraq if it does not disarm, said the new U.S. version required considerable reworking before agreement can be reached in the U.N. Security Council.

De Villepin said "progress is still needed and we therefore still have much work to do."

Further highlighting the differences between U.S. and French positions on Iraq, he said that his country's position was still "the elimination of weapons of mass destruction, and not a regime change in Iraq."

Russia and France are permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and have the right to a veto along with the United States, Britain and China.

The U.S. draft allows but does not require the Security Council to revise the idea of using force if and when the U.N. weapons inspectors report that Baghdad is not in compliance with U.N. demands, thus seeking to ease French and Russian objections, U.S. officials said.

However, nothing in the new resolution could permit the Security Council to bar the United States from taking military action against Iraq to force compliance.

Leading U.S. ally Britain also made clear Tuesday October 22, that it too was keen to see closure on the Iraq issue, although not at the expense of a woolly compromise.

"We hope very much that we get a resolution on this issue through the United Nations, but recognize that the issue of weapons of mass destruction is a serious one and has to be dealt with," said Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The United States on Tuesday said it anticipated a "complicated" and "messy" negotiating process on its draft resolution on Iraq, presented to its fellow permanent U.N. Security Council members on Monday October 21.

"This is going to be a complicated process because it is a long text," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said, adding: "It's probably going to be a messy process."

Delivered Monday to the four other permanent members of the Security Council, the document "makes clear that there should be serious consequences for Iraq's failure -- continued failure" -- to adhere to conditions for disarmament, he said.

It also "requires the (U.N. arms) inspectors to report immediately any failures or interference that Iraq might put up in the face of the inspections."

"It's intended to be tough," Boucher said.

The spokesman said the draft, about "three normal pages" in length, would be presented "shortly" to the 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council.

Washington stepped up earlier Tuesday pressure on the Security Council, warning that the U.N. "does not have forever" to approve a new resolution aimed at disarming Saddam.

"The United Nations is entering the final stages on this, and we would like to see an agreement reached," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

Powell also pressed Ivanov on the need for the Security Council to resolve differences quickly over the proposed new resolution, a State Department official said.

In addition to Ivanov, Powell spoke to British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and U.N. chief Kofi Annan about the revised text, the official said.

Blix said earlier today in Moscow that a war with Iraq can be avoided if Iraqi officials convince arms monitors that they have no weapons of mass destruction.

"If the Iraqis help to cooperate to create some confidence that there remain no weapons of mass destruction, there will be no war," Blix said before meeting Ivanov.

"There are questions that we would like to be answered by them and places we would like to visit," he said.

"My job was to tell the minister (Ivanov) of what's important for us (in the resolution) in practical terms ... for the success of the inspections, and one point that is evident is that there is unanimity in the Security Council. And I don't think that they are there yet," Blix said.

Blix stressed that his weapons inspections teams would not go to Baghdad until a new resolution on the Iraqi situation had been passed by the Security Council.

In Baghdad, Saddam met Tuesday with senior military officials to discuss strategy on how to respond to U.S.-led military action to oust his regime, the official INA news agency reported.

Military Industries Minister Abdul Tawab Mulla Howeish, the chief of Iraq's anti-aircraft defenses, General Mozahem Saab al-Hassan, and other high-ranking defense officials attended the meeting, INA said.