The United Nations ordered a further pullout of staff from Iraq on Thursday after two suicide bombings in five weeks, in a setback to U.S.-led efforts to stabilize and rebuild the country.

The withdrawal of dozens of U.N. staff to Jordan over the next few days added to gloom at the General Assembly over the Middle East, with Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts in tatters and a crisis looming over Iran's nuclear program.

U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard called the decision by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, after a meeting with top security advisers, "a temporary redeployment of international staff in Iraq."

He said 42 international staff were left in Baghdad and 44 in northern Iraq, and "these numbers can be expected to shrink further in the coming days."

But Annan stopped short of the total withdrawal demanded by the U.N. Staff Union after an Aug. 19 truck bomb attack on the world body's Baghdad headquarters killed special envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 other staff, and a car bomb on Monday killed an Iraqi policeman and wounded 19.

Paradoxically, the decision came as negotiations were under way in New York to beef up the role of the United Nations in the rebuilding of Iraq's political institutions.

The United States, responsible for security in Baghdad, said it still wanted the United Nations to play a vital role in Iraq's reconstruction.

U.N. sources said Annan's security aides had advocated a total withdrawal but Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed concern about the impact such a move would have on Iraq. The outcome was a compromise, they said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, a sharp critic of the U.S.-led war to oust Saddam Hussein, called for a stronger U.N. role in Iraq but did not join France and Germany in calling for a swift handover of power to Iraqis.

In a conciliatory speech, Putin, who will meet President Bush at Camp David on Saturday, voiced support for Bush's proposals for U.N. action on the fight against the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

SECURITY FEARS

The death of a member of the unelected interim Iraqi Governing Council, Akila al-Hashimi, five days after she was shot in Baghdad, compounded fears of growing insecurity.

The deteriorating situation overshadowed diplomatic efforts to unite the Security Council, deeply split over the U.S.-led war, behind a resolution to create a multinational force and set a framework for self-government in Iraq.

Foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the council -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France -- discussed the way forward with Annan over lunch.

Powell told reporters he was pleased to see "some convergence of views" on a new resolution, including a United Nations role in the political process in Iraq.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw robustly defended the removal of Saddam Hussein, saying the U.S.-British occupying powers wanted to hand over to Iraqis as soon as the security situation and the state of Iraqi institutions permit.

"We shall stay in Iraq as long, but only as long, as it is necessary to meet our clear responsibilities and to restore sovereignty to the Iraqi people as quickly as we can in an orderly manner," Straw told the General Assembly.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, an outspoken war critic, predicted that attempts to thrust democracy upon Iraq would either fail or cause instability and insecurity.

"For Iraq to become suddenly a democracy I don't think it will work. ... So in some cases you may need authoritarian rule," he told a news conference.

The U.S. draft resolution says a timetable leading to Iraqi sovereignty has to be set by the 25-member Iraqi Governing Council. It calls on the United Nations to assist the council in writing a constitution and planning elections in cooperation with occupying powers.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told the assembly that peace efforts with the Palestinians were at a standstill because of what he called their failure to dismantle the Hamas militant movement and its "infrastructure of terror."

Diplomats said there was a sense of despair at a meeting of foreign ministers of the Group of Eight industrialized powers about the worsening Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Highlighting a building crisis with Iran, diplomats in Vienna said the U.N. nuclear watchdog had discovered traces of weapons-grade enriched uranium at a second site in Iran.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has given Tehran until Oct. 31 to prove it does not have a secret atomic arms program or be reported to the Security Council for possible sanctions.

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi sounded a defiant note, telling the assembly: "Iran will vigorously pursue its peaceful nuclear program and will not give in to unreasonable demands that are discriminatory, selective and go beyond the requirements of non-proliferation in accordance with existing IAEA instruments."

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