UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan today proposed an international conference among Iraqi political parties and said again the country's neighbours, Syria and Iran, needed to be involved.
Mr Annan had a telephone conference with the 10-member, US bipartisan Iraq Study Group yesterday, searching for a new policy in Iraq, and told reporters afterwards that Iraq was close to a civil war unless the situation could be reversed.
"The security in Iraq today is a major constraint," Mr Annan said in answer to reporters' questions.
"If one were to work out an arrangement where one can get the Iraqi political parties together, somewhere outside Iraq as we did in Afghanistan, the United Nations can play the role it normally plays."
In December 2001, the UN organised a conference in Bonn, Germany, that established a political process for Afghanistan after US and allied Afghan forces ousted the Taliban rulers for harbouring Osama bin Laden.
But Mr Annan said: "I think we need to work slowly to get there. And of course the Iraqi leaders will have to understand that they need to come together to make compromises to resolve their differences."
At the same time he said the Iraqis could not do it alone in light of the "the bitterness and the level of violence" so "the international community has to help them do it."
Mr Annan said he had not dealt with Syria and Iran on Iraq but only on Lebanon in the past months. But he said that both countries should be part of the solution.
"And we should bring them in and get them to work with us in resolving the issue, and let them assume some of the responsibility."
The Iraq Study Group, led by former Secretary of State James Baker and former congressman Lee Hamilton, wants to complete its report before Congress adjourns next month.
It is considering talks with Syria and Iran as well as a gradual troop withdrawal. Asked if the United Nations could fill a security vacuum in case of a US withdrawal, Mr Annan said such details were not discussed.