NEW YORK, 9 November 2002 — The United Nations unanimously approved a tough US-initiated resolution yesterday giving Iraq one last chance to disarm or face the consequences and ordering President Saddam Hussein to accept its terms within a week.

Even Iraq’s neighbor Syria, which had signaled opposition to the resolution, joined the other UN Security Council members for the 15-0 vote, a victory for President George W. Bush, who had challenged the United Nations to disarm Iraq.

“The world has now come together to say that the outlaw regime in Iraq will not be permitted to build or possess chemical, biological or nuclear weapons,” Bush said in Washington immediately after the vote. Bush warned that Saddam Hussein must comply fully with the new UN mandate or face “the severest consequences” of a US-led military strike on Baghdad.

“If Iraq fails to fully comply, the United States and other nations will disarm Saddam Hussein,” Bush said from the White House Rose Garden shortly after the vote by the 15-member executive UN body.

China’s envoy, Zhang Yishan, who chaired the meeting, told reporters, “Today you will see full sunshine.” Chief UN inspector Hans Blix said he would be taking a crew to Iraq on Nov. 18 and UN officials said the first team would set up logistics for the arms experts. Actual spot inspections are not expected to begin until after Nov. 25.

The complex resolution, co-sponsored by Britain, leaves the United States free to attack Iraq without Security Council authorization. But this is to happen only after the inspectors, accounting for Baghdad’s weapons of mass destruction, have reported or verified a serious violation by Iraq and the Security Council has evaluated the complaint.

The UN inspectors have up to 45 days to begin work and another 60 days to report to the Council on what they have uncovered. But they are obligated to report any obstructions by Iraq immediately. However, several Security Council members expressed anxiety that the Bush administration would move unilaterally without waiting for the inspectors’ report as US troops began massing in the Gulf. “War can be only a last resort,” said French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte.

Blix, an international lawyer, has made clear he would not report minor infractions, a position that may conflict with US military plans. The resolution gives the UN arms inspectors, who have been out of Iraq for four years, “immediate, unimpeded and unconditional” rights to search anywhere for banned weapons, including President Saddam Hussein’s presidential compounds.

It directs Iraq to accept the terms of the resolution in seven days, and within 30 days make an “accurate full and complete” declaration of its nuclear, chemical, biological and ballistic weapons and related materials used in civilian industries. And the document threatens Iraq with “serious consequences” if it does not take advantage of “a final opportunity” to cooperate and disarm. Iraq’s UN Ambassador, Mohamed Aldouri, said he did not know his government’s response to the seven-day deadline. But he told Reuters the resolution reflected “the will of the United States on the rest of the world” and that he was “pessimistic” the inspectors would ever be allowed to do their work.

Syria said it supported the resolution to preserve unity in the Security Council despite doubts. Syria’s Deputy Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad indicated that France and Russia in “high-level contacts” had persuaded Damascus to vote “yes” following assurances the resolution would not be used as a pretext to strike Iraq.

Bush expressed pleasure with the vote, which came after two months of arduous negotiations following his Sept. 12 speech to the UN General Assembly. He challenged the world to force Iraq to disarm or the United States would do it alone. Bush yesterday said the Security Council “had given clear and fair notice that Saddam Hussein must fully disclose and destroy its weapons of mass destruction.”

And his UN ambassador John Negroponte warned that “if the Security Council fails to act decisively in the event of a further Iraq violation, this resolution does not constrain any member state from acting to defend itself.”

British Ambassador Sir Jeremy Greenstock was more conciliatory and stressed there was no automatic trigger for military action. “If there is a further Iraq breach of its disarmament obligations, the matter will return to the council for discussion. We would expect the Security Council then to meet its responsibilities,” he said.

The key Paragraph 4 in the resolution decides that “false statements or omissions” and other non-cooperation by Iraq constitute a “further material breach” of Baghdad’s obligations — wording that would allow a military attack.

A dispute over who would evaluate a material breach almost derailed the resolution until a last-minute deal between the United States and France. While Negroponte told reporters any nation could report an Iraqi violation to the Council, Greenstock stressed that the arms inspectors would have to verify any material breach of Iraq’s obligations before any military strike could begin.

Russia’s UN Ambassador Sergei Lavrov said, “It is particularly important that, as many of my colleagues have said today, in the event of any kind of dispute or disagreement on disarmament matters, the (inspectors) will report this to the Security Council, and it is the Security Council that will consider the situation that has developed.” Mexico’s UN Ambassador Adolfo Zinser told the Council, “We reiterate our belief, that is reflected in the agreed text, that the possibility of the use of force is only valid as a last resort.”

Most members followed UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s lead and warned Iraq to comply. “I urge the Iraqi leadership for the sake of its own people and for the sake of world security and world order to seize this opportunity and thereby begin to end the isolation and suffering of the Iraqi people.” Despite claims and counterclaims, the new resolution showed a considerable shift by the Bush administration, which diplomats said could be attributed to Secretary of State Colin Powell. Although Bush said he could form a coalition without the United Nations, even British Prime Minister Tony Blair would have had trouble without international legal cover.

French President Jacques Chirac called the vote an opportunity for peace. “The message of the international community is clear. It is united in telling Iraq that it is now time to cooperate fully with the United Nations,” he said. The resolution “offers a chance for Iraq to disarm in peace,” Chirac said in a statement in Paris.