But amid relief that the resolution was adopted and praise for how Washington had conducted the negotiations, several ambassadors emphasised the challenges ahead.
"Only time will tell whether adoption of this resolution will help achieve a turnaround in Iraq," said Russia's deputy UN ambassador Alexander Konuzin.
"The future remains loaded with dangers and uncertainties," said Algerian Ambassador Abdallah Baali, the only delegate from an Arab nation on the council.
The resolution paves the way for elections by giving a timetable of no later than Jan. 2005 for a poll on a transitional government. After a constitution is written, a permanent government is to take office by Jan. 31, 2006.
IMPORTANT ROLE FOR UN
The measure puts Iraq in charge of its oil proceeds and calls for the United Nations to help with elections, writing of a constitution and many other tasks.
It also gives the Iraqi interim government the right to order US troops to leave at any time and makes clear the mandate of the international force will expire by the end of January 2006.
Nevertheless, the daily violence continued as guerrillas detonated car bombs in two Iraqi cities that killed 13 Iraqis and one US soldier and wounded dozens.
A taxi carrying three men blew up near the mayor's office in the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday, witnesses said. The US military said at least nine Iraqis were killed, with some bodies charred beyond recognition.
An hour earlier, a car bomb exploded outside a US base in the town of Baquba, some 40 miles north of Baghdad, killing four Iraqis and a US soldier.
And eleven Iraqis, including women and children, were killed in clashes between US forces and guerrillas near the Sunni flashpoint city of Falluja, hospital sources said.
US-led special forces also freed three Italians and a Pole held hostage in Iraq and captured some of their abductors in a bloodless rescue mission.
Details on the rescue operation were sketchy, but Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said: "They were freed ... by coalition forces near Baghdad. There was no bloodshed."
CONTROL OF US FORCES AT ISSUE
Control of the 160,000 US-led troops was the most contentious issue in the resolution, which authorizes a multinational force under American command to "use all necessary measures" to prevent violence.
At the insistence of France and others, the resolution includes a pledge by the United States for a military "partnership" and coordination with Iraq's leaders on "sensitive offensive operations."
But it does not say what happens in case of a disagreement over the use of US forces, prompting France, Germany, Algeria and others to propose Iraq had the right to block a major US campaign. The United States rejected this demand.
France's ambassador, Jean-Marc de la Sabliere said he was satisfied with the text but would have preferred the text "spell out what would happen in event of a disagreement."
The Bush administration had been anxious for a vote early this week on the official transfer of sovereignty so that disputes over the resolution did not overshadow a summit of the Group of Eight industrial nations in Sea Island, Georgia.
The resolution is expected to help patch over deep divisions on Iraq, prompted by the US-led invasion, opposed by major European nations and most other countries around the world.
Iraq was represented at the meeting by Feisel Istrabadi, a constitutional lawyer in the Foreign Ministry, who told reporters, "We need the help of the international community to rebuild this country. This is a country which has been cut off ...for too long."
But although the resolution asks for more international troops, US officials have given no indication further help would be in the offing. "I expect nations to contribute as they see fit," Bush told reporters in Sea Island.
- REUTERS
Full text:
United Nations Security Council Iraq resolution 1546
UN statements:
Security Council endorses formation of sovereign interim government in Iraq
Herald Feature: Iraq
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