United Nations ? The United States won key support Monday from chief weapons inspectors who told the Security Council they would be better off with a new resolution that warns Iraq of consequences if it fails to cooperate.

“I think it is desirable that Iraq understands that any lack of cooperation or violation … will call for reactions on the part of the council,” said Hans Blix, the top U.N. inspector.

But Blix and Mohammed El Baradei, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency in charge of nuclear inspections, questioned several details in the U.S. proposal and said it was up to the council not them to decide whether Iraq was in compliance.

“It has been suggested that we hold war and peace in our hands (and) we decline that statement,” Blix told journalists after discussing the U.S. proposal inside the Security Council. “Our job is to report.”

U.S. and British officials said they would take the inspectors’ opinions under advisement and come back to the council with clarifications.

U.S. and British diplomats hoped the statements from the weapons inspectors would increase support for their draft. The two English-speaking allies want a vote by the end of the week even though diplomats say they still lack the nine votes needed to pass the resolution.

But U.S. officials sought to convince allies that Bush will confront Iraq regardless of the vote’s outcome. They hope to force a choice between backing Bush or looking irrelevant as he proceeds without them.

President Bush said Saddam Hussein “has made the United Nations look foolish.”

“If the United Nations doesn’t have the will or the courage to disarm Saddam Hussein and if Saddam Hussein will not disarm, for the sake of peace, for the sake of freedom, the United States will lead a coalition to disarm Saddam Hussein,” Bush said Monday.