UNITED NATIONS, June 2 (Xinhuanet) -- The United Nations Security Council will meet with Hoshiyar Zebari, foreign minister of the newly-formed interim Iraqi government, on Thursday on the US-British drafted UN resolution on Iraq, a UN spokesman said Wednesday.

    Fred Eckhard told reporters that UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is on his way back to New York after winding up his weeks of intense efforts to help establish the interim Iraqi government.

    He noted that the Security Council has scheduled a retreat for the coming weekend to discuss the revised draft resolution presented by the United States and Britain on Tuesday.

    To gain support at the council, the United States and Britain set a rough timetable for the withdrawal of the US-led multinational force. The new draft says the force's mandate "shallexpire upon the completion of the political process" in Iraq. The process is expected to end with the election of a new government by Dec. 31, 2005 in accordance with the permanent constitution.

    The new text also gives the interim Iraqi government control over its security forces.

    But it remains silent on whether the Iraqi government has a sayon the operation of the multinational force, mainly composed of UStroops.

    It is unclear whether the new version can meet objections of Germany, France, China and other council members, which have called for full sovereignty for the new Iraqi government.

    Zebari, who left Baghdad Tuesday for New York, is expected to press hard for his country to be granted "full sovereignty," according to officials in Baghdad. Enditem