The US and Britain have given the UN Security Council a revised draft resolution they hope will send a clear signal that Iraq will gain full sovereignty on 30 June.
The draft sets an end for the mandate of US-led forces in Iraq 'upon completion of the political process' that will see a constitution written and a new Iraqi government elected in late 2005 or early 2006.
It also states that an earlier Iraqi government which is to be
elected in January 2005, before the constitution is written, could
in theory terminate the mandate of the US troops who will remain in Iraq after the end of June.
Earlier, an explosion near the headquarters of the Kurdish PUK party in Baghdad today killed three people and injured twenty.
The explosion occurred at the base of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which is near the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, and a compound where the current US-led administration is based.
In a separate incident north of Baghdad, as many as 11 Iraqis have died and a further 26 were hurt after a suicide car bomb exploded at the entrance to a US military base in the town of Bayji.
The blasts came after the announcement that the Sunni Muslim Ghazi al-Yawar had been selected as President of Iraq.
He was sworn in today, as was an interim government led by Dr Iyad Allawi.
Two vice presidents, one a Shi'ite, the other a Kurd, were appointed to serve under Mr al-Yawar.
Hoshiyar Zebari, the re-appointed foreign minister, was traveling to the UN in New York tonight, to seek a satisfactory Security Council resolution underpinning the transitional government.
