UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council began critical negotiations on a new Iraq resolution Monday, still sharply divided over language that could trigger military action against Saddam Hussein.

France, Russia and China - all veto-wielding council members - want the resolution to give Iraq a chance to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors. If Baghdad fails to comply, they want the Security Council to meet and then consider military action in a second document.

But the United States and Britain, the other two veto-wielding members, demand a single resolution. Secretary of State Colin Powell stressed that it must include "the threat of force and the threat of consequences ... or we know that Iraq will not respond."

In Baghdad, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said the new U.S. draft resolution would turn his country into an occupied territory.

The U.S. draft "tries to deal with Iraqi people as a people under the mandate of a colonial power. It is, in a few words, a declaration to colonize Iraq in the name of the United Nations," Sabri told Associated Press Television News late Sunday.

Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix and Mohammed ElBaradei of the International Atomic Energy Agency met with the Security Council behind closed-doors Monday and were expected to discuss new rules to strengthen inspections in the U.S. draft. France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-David Levitte has said their assessment will be "very important."

In an interview published Monday in Le Figaro, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin proposed a foreign ministers-level Security Council meeting to smooth out differences on disarming Iraq.

"Our objective is now twofold: reaching a conclusion quickly, and doing so on the basis of as large a consensus as possible in the Security Council," de Villepin said.

China's ambassador, Wang Yingfan, said he hadn't been approached about a foreign ministers meeting and a British diplomat said a summit would only be possible if an outcome was guaranteed.

While the inspection rules are a key element of the resolution, the issue of authorizing military force is critical.

In a surprise move Friday, Russia and France introduced their own proposals challenging the U.S. draft resolution. Both eliminated two U.S. references to Iraq being in "material breach" of its obligations, which they view as a hidden trigger for military action.

Russia, Iraq's closest council ally, also eliminated a U.S.-drafted warning that Iraq would face "serious consequences" if it keeps violating its obligations to disarm.

France, which sees itself as a potential broker between Washington and Moscow, wants to water down some U.S. inspection proposals. Under the French proposal, the council's warning of "serious consequences" would hinge on a report from inspectors that Iraq had failed to comply with the United Nations.

France has said eight countries support its two-stage approach: Mexico, Cameroon, Guinea, Ireland, Mauritius, France, China and Russia.

Syria opposes any new resolution.

An American official countered that the U.S. draft had equal backing - if not more - but didn't identify supporters.

For a resolution to be adopted, it needs at least nine "yes" votes and no veto by one of the five permanent members.

The United States is hoping for a vote by the end of this week although Powell said Saturday that prospects for a tough resolution may be slipping away and a compromise "may evade us."

On Monday, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said the United States was continuing to lobby hard for support but that time was running out.

"This is coming down to the wire. The United Nations has debated this long enough. The time has come for people to raise their hands and cast their vote to either announce that they will return to the ways of the 90s - a weak and ineffective system of inspections - or recognize that Saddam Hussein is taking advantage of weakness and the world needs to do something different," Fleischer said.

President Bush spurred the Iraq debate in a Sept. 12 address to the U.N. General Assembly warning world leaders to act decisively to disarm Saddam Hussein or stand aside as the United States takes action.

Days later, Iraq announced it would allow U.N. weapons inspectors to return after nearly four years.

Bush renewed his pledge over the weekend to mobilize a coalition against the Iraqi leader - without the United Nations, if necessary. Fleischer said it would be "not very hard at all" to assemble an alliance to confront Saddam without the United Nations.

In London, the independent Oxford Research Group said a U.S.-led war on Iraq would heighten the risk of regional conflict and increase support for Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network.

The group said a conventional war would kill 10,000 civilians in Iraq, and could trigger a desperate and destructive response from Saddam Hussein's regime, including the use of chemical and biological weapons. That, the group warned in its report, could trigger a nuclear response from the United States and Britain.

On the Web:

U.N. Security Council: http://www.un.org/Overview/Organs/sc.html

Oxford Research Group: http://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk