Kremlin OKs the Use of Force in U.N. Embargo : Sanctions: Soviets reluctantly agree to back military plan but insist diplomatic efforts must continue.

The United States won grudging Soviet consent Friday to a U.N. resolution backing military enforcement of the embargo against Iraq, clearing the way for expected Security Council approval of the measure at a late-night meeting that continued early today.

A Soviet official said his government reluctantly agreed to the use of force against ships suspected of carrying goods to or from Iraq, in exchange for a provision emphasizing the need for diplomacy to resolve the Persian Gulf crisis.

“We don’t exclude in some minimum form that the enforcement measures could be used, but only in the framework of continued diplomatic and political efforts,” Deputy Soviet Ambassador Valentin V. Lozinsky told reporters.

“There are changes in the text that go in this direction,” he said following a climactic round of talks in which the deal was sealed.

Sources said the Soviet Union began moderating its position after Secretary of State James A. Baker III spoke by telephone with Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze on Thursday.

Then on Friday, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev publicly warned Iraqi President Saddam Hussein that failure to comply with previous U.N. resolutions arising from the Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait “will inevitably compel the Security Council to adopt corresponding extra measures.”

The warning was seen by diplomats here as a means of enabling the Soviet Union to drop its weeklong resistance to the proposed U.N. enforcement resolution. Soviet officials had been arguing that the resolution was premature because “diplomatic and political efforts have not been exhausted.”

Lozinsky was asked if Soviet support of the resolution was connected to Gorbachev’s message to Hussein.

“Oh, exactly,” he said. “This is part of the political and diplomatic efforts that are taken by our government in order to solve this crisis by peaceful means.”

The agreement represents a major victory in President Bush’s drive to put an international stamp on aggressive U.S. efforts to enforce the U.N. trade sanctions.

Bush has insisted that the United States already has legal authority to interdict cargo vessels, and U.S. warships have fired shots across the bows of two tankers hauling oil from Iraq. But the Administration has fought vigorously for the U.N.’s blessing to avoid being portrayed as a lone enforcer of the sanctions.

The resolution would permit military commanders of the United States or any other nation to take unilateral action against commercial vessels to enforce the previously approved U.N. sanctions barring any form of trade with Iraq.

Specifically, warships could use “such measures commensurate to the specific circumstances as may be necessary . . . to halt all inward and outward maritime shipping in order to inspect and verify their cargoes and destination.”

Participants in the negotiations rejected a Soviet bid to place control of the enforcement actions under a U.N. military committee. The resolution instead merely requests that nations “coordinate their actions . . . using, as appropriate, mechanisms of” the U.N. committee.

Several of the lesser powers on the Security Council pressed for tighter U.N. control, demanding that the U.N. secretary general and the Security Council have “active participation” in enforcement actions. This change, proposed by Cuba, Yemen, Zaire and others, was being discussed with U.S. officials at a late hour.

Agreement on the resolution was reached after five days of intensive talks involving the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, France and China--the five permanent members of the 15-member U.N. Security Council.

Britain and France strongly supported the U.S.-sponsored measure. China opposed it as an unwarranted intervention in a regional matter but said it would abstain from voting. The Soviets held out the threat of vetoing the resolution, protesting that any action should await further diplomatic efforts and clear evidence that the embargo is being violated.

The United Nations has never before approved an enforcement measure in the wake of economic sanctions.

In 1966, the Security Council called upon Britain to prevent, by force if necessary, the delivery of oil to Rhodesia. But that was a prelude to imposition of a trade embargo eight months later.

In its only other authorization of military force, the United Nations in 1950 approved an operation, organized by the United States, to counter the invasion of South Korea.

More on Gulf Crisis

SOVIET WARNING--In an urgent message, Gorbachev tells Hussein to relent--and hints that he may face worldwide military action. A6

SETTING PRIORITIES--President Bush has indicated he would use military force against Iraq even if it costs the lives of U.S. hostages. A7

CHANGE OF PLANS--Weeks ago, the U.S. envoy to Kuwait was preparing to leave his post. Now he’s stuck there, under siege. A7

MARKET MOVES--The stock market reversed course with its biggest rally since the invasion, but prices at the gas pump hit their highest level since July, 1982. D1