UN deputy spokeswoman Hua Jiang said Annan would meet separately with French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who both want the United Nations to play a central role in post-war reconstruction in Iraq.

Jiang said Annan would also confer with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who committed thousands of troops to the brief US-led military campaign that toppled the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Blair, too, has said the UN has a "vital" role in post-war Iraq.

But top US officials briefing reporters at the military command centre in the Gulf insisted Monday that the UN "won't be the ruling partner" in deciding the shape of a future Iraqi government.

Annan's special adviser on Iraq, Rafeeuddin Ahmed, was in Washington on Monday for a series of briefings with officials at the US State Department, Defense Department and National Security Council, spokeswoman Hua said.

She said Ahmed hoped "to get a clearer picture" of US government thinking on post-conflict Iraq.

She noted that "any UN role beyond humanitarian activities would have to be mandated by the Security Council," where the United States has a veto.

Hua said that Annan would meet Blair and Schroeder on Wednesday, the eve of the Athens summit, and also confer with the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Russia, Germany and Spain.

All five countries are members of the Security Council. The first three, along with China and the United States, hold permanent seats.

Annan is to meet Chirac on Thursday morning before conferring with Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis and Foreign Minister George Papandreou, the current chairman of the EU council of ministers.

SPACE.WIRE