UNITED NATIONS – Secretary-General Annan told the British and American governments that they should provide the United Nations with aircrafts if the two countries want the limited activities of the U.N. mission in Iraq to push beyond Baghdad. Britain’s foreign minister, Jack Straw, according to Mr. Annan, has already informed the United Nations that no planes will be offered.

In identical letters to Mr. Straw and Secretary of State Rice, Mr. Annan wrote that any expansion to Erbil and Basra of the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq would require “dedicated air assets.” Currently, the UNAMI staff of 60 rarely leave Baghdad’s green zone, but the United Nations has planned to move several staffers to the other two cities.

Air assets for the United Nations “is now becoming an urgent matter for the expanding of the UNAMI presence” in Iraq, Mr. Annan wrote Ms. Rice in a November 3 letter seen by The New York Sun. “Any further expansion is contingent upon securing these crucial assets.” He said that plans to expand the mission to Basra and Erbil “have been placed on hold, upon my instructions” until the issue is resolved.

Mr. Annan said in his letter that Mr. Straw has informed him that “despite his best personal efforts” Britain was unable to secure the aircrafts. He added that he hoped America, “with its much larger capacity in Iraq,” would be able to do so.

Since an August, 19, 2003, bombing, in which 21 members of the U.N. mission in Iraq were killed, including the mission’s head, Sergio Vieira de Mello, the United Nations has shied from significant involvement in Iraq, often citing security issues. On Tuesday, the Security Council extended the mandate of the American-led multinational force presence in Iraq until the end of 2006.The council urged the United Nations to “continue to play a leading role in assisting the Iraqi people and government with further political and economic development.”

On another front, Mr. Annan, who was in the Middle East yesterday, strongly condemned the Amman bombing, and summarily announced he would postpone his visit to Jordan, which was scheduled for today.

On Tuesday, Mr. Annan said in Cairo that Syria “has had a good record” in implementing Security Council resolutions. America’s U.N. ambassador, John Bolton, said, however, that Syria’s performance in carrying out council resolutions had ranged from “very lacking” to “substantially lacking,” according to Reuters. The head of a U.N. team investigating the assassination of Lebanon’s Rafik Hariri, Detlev Mehlis, has reported that Syria has not cooperated with his investigation. Mr. Annan “stands by what he says,” his spokeswoman, Marie Okabe, told reporters yesterday.