Following the fall of Baghdad, the US Thursday renewed its call to more than 60 countries to close Iraqi embassies, seize their assets and expel senior diplomats.

Any decision on closure would "very much depend on the development of the situation in Iraq," Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa told AFP.

"We have heard US demands but it is not something that requires our full attention," he said. "Now is not the right time to make that decision.

"We'll wait for a new administration in Iraq, one which will be formed and led by its people and will involve the United Nations."

Indonesia, a strong critic of the US-led war, wants the UN closely involved in the post-war period. The US sees the UN's role as largely restricted to humanitarian affairs and reconstruction.

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said President Megawati Sukarnoputri "does not want to see the UN sidelined again on the Iraq issue in the post-war era."

On Monday Megawati, in unusually strong language, denounced the United States and its allies for practising the "law of the jungle" by attacking Iraq in defiance of the United Nations.

SPACE.WIRE