Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Tuesday that the United Nations should assume responsibility for dealing with the situation in violence-ravaged Iraq.  

"We should ensure that questions relating to new initiatives inIraq are dealt with where they ought to be, namely at the United Nations within the framework of the Security Council," Zapatero told a joint news conference with visiting Czech President Vaclav Klaus.

The UN is in a right position to organize any international conference on the future of Iraq, Zapatero added.

On Monday, several EU countries expressed their cautious support for a US proposal to organize an international conference on the future of Iraq, where general elections are due to be held in January.

At the news conference, the prime minister also defended his decision to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq, and claimed the Spanish people did not back a war for which not enough reasons have been presented.

Spain completed the withdrawal of its 1,300 soldiers from Iraq in May.

(Xinhua News Agency September 29, 2004)