HIGHLIGHTS|||*|Washington to Circulate Revised Draft Resolution Shortly|*|Despite Reported Progress Wide Differences Persist Between Five Permanent UN Security Council Members|*|Observers Say Qatar's Request for Arab Summit Reflects Growing International Anxiety About U.S. Intentions Vis-à-vis Iraq|*|Party that Won Turkey's Recent General Elections Says It's Opposed to Military Action against Iraq|*|
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STORY: The UN Security Council will resume talks Wednesday on a new arms inspection regime for Iraq, as Qatar requested an Arab summit to discuss possible US military action against Baghdad.

Members of the council rescheduled a session on Kosovo to make time for consultations on a new US draft resolution calling for tough new rules governing the UN search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Zhang Yishan of China, the acting president of the council, announced.

US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States expected to "circulate a revised resolution shortly and then proceed to a vote thereafter."

The draft, which would strengthen the UN weapons inspection regime in Iraq, has been reworked by top officials including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.

It is customary for a council member to give 48 hours notice when asking for a vote on a draft resolution so other members can consult their capitals if necessary.

The five veto-wielding permanent members have made considerable progress in six weeks of discussion on US proposals to strengthen the UN weapons inspection regime in Iraq, but major differences persist between them, he said.

The draft would allow for more intrusive inspections than were possible between 1991 and 1998, when UN inspectors were withdrawn from Iraq, and would threaten the regime of President Saddam Hussein with "serious consequences" if it obstructed them.

Among the five permanent members, Britain backs the draft, while France and Russia have led a tough diplomatic campaign to amend it.

China -- which holds the council presidency this month -- has been discreet about its voting intentions, but both US and French officials say it is in the Franco-Russian camp.

But in a sign of growing international anxiety about US plans vis-a-vis Baghdad, Qatar has submitted an official request to the Cairo-based Arab League for an Arab summit on the crises facing Iraq and the Palestinian territories, a senior Arab official said.

The request was contained in a letter from Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassem ben Jabr al-Thani to Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa, said the official, who declined to be identified.

Qatar said in the message that the time was ripe for an Arab summit "to discuss the means with which the Arabs will deal with the current situation in the Middle East, as the Security Council prepares to issue a new resolution" on Iraq, the official said.

In a potential setback for Washington, the party that won Turkey's general election also said it opposed US military action against Iraq especially since Baghdad was prepared to cooperate with the United Nations, Anatolia news agency reported.

"The US does not have the support of its own public opinion and there are problems with putting such an operation within the framework of international legitimacy," Yasar Yakis, the deputy chairman of the Justice and Development Party, said.

PHOTO CAPTION

The UN Security Council will resume talks Wednesday on a new arms inspection regime for Iraq, as Qatar requested an Arab summit to discuss possible US miliary action against Baghdad.