UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has repeated that the United Nations will not mount a peacekeeping force in Iraq.

After a meeting with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Annan said member nations are not prepared to contribute troops to serve under U.S. command.

But he said the UN may be open to approving an independent multinational force to help stabilize the country.

Kofi Annan

"It is not excluded that the (UN Security) Council may decide to transform the operation into a UN-mandated multinational force, operating on the ground, with other governments coming in," he said.

But that should lead to "not just burden sharing, but also sharing decisions and responsibility with the others. If that doesn't happen, I think it is going to be very difficult to get a second (Security Council) resolution that will satisfy everybody."

Straw was at the UN to lobby council members for a resolution that would encourage nations to send troops to assist the U.S. forces. In an interview on British television he sidestepped the issue of whether the U.S. and British-led forces would make a deal to surrender their authority to the UN.

"What we're saying to our partners in the security council as well as to other countries which are potential troop and other contributors, but who feel they want to see a strengthened mandate, is: tell us what you think that you need and then let us see whether we can accommodate by new language and a new resolution. I think we'll get there but it's going to be a collaborative process. "

Annan agreed that the council might be able to reach a new resolution, but those discussions are "best done behind closed doors."