The United States will run Iraq if Saddam Hussein's regime is deposed in the expected US-led attack on the Gulf state.
US and United Nations officials agreed last night that initial responsibility for running the country would devolve to the United States, as the occupying power.
The UN and the United States have been working for months on plans for dealing with Iraq's hungry, wounded and homeless in the event of war. But UN officials have been hesitant to discuss the moves publicly for fear they might make it seem war was inevitable.
The UN also disclosed it was looking at a possible role in rebuilding a post-war Iraq.
A new UN task force on Iraqi reconstruction has been set up to deal with the devastation that would be caused by a war.
Mr Mark Malloch Brown, head of the UN Development Program, said recently that rebuilding Iraq could cost up to $30 billion over three years and eventually soar to up to $100 billion.
The United States has so far committed $18 million to planning, much of it in the form of donations to UN agencies such as the World Food Program.
But US humanitarian groups called the Bush administration's planning inadequate and complained it would not make a commitment to help civilians in the event Baghdad used chemical or biological weapons.