The United Nations Security Council has voted unanimously to approve a resolution on Iraq's future, formally giving an interim government in Baghdad sovereignty on 30 June.
After weeks of negotiations, the council voted 15-0 in favour of the resolution endorsing the new government and setting out a timetable that will lead to democratic elections next year.
US Ambassador to the UN, John Negroponte, said the vote was a vivid demonstration of broad international support for the Anglo-American resolution.
The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, welcomed the council's decision, saying the world must now unite behind Baghdad's democratic future.
Earlier, US President George W Bush welcomed the prospect of an early UN Security Council vote on the resolution and the fact that it might be adopted unanimously.
Mr Bush was speaking in Georgia, where the G8 summit of industrialised countries was getting underway.
