Washington, May 01: The United States and United Nations are nearing consensus on appointment of Iraq`s current planning minister Mehdi Hafez to lead interim Iraqi government that will take over from US occupation authority when the country returns to self-rule on June 30, US officials said. The officials, speaking to news agencies on condition of anonymity, said yesterday Hafez, a secular Shiite Muslim with moderate views, is at the top of a list of about eight candidates prepared by special UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi as possible choices to become Iraq`s Prime Minister.

"He is far and away the closest to meeting all the criteria," one official said, noting that Hafez appeared to be acceptable to nearly all of Iraq`s fractious ethnic, political and religious factions. "Almost all the boxes are checked off next to his name."

Most importantly, Hafez seems to have won blessings of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the revered spiritual leader of the country`s Shiia majority, who earlier this year cratered US plans to select the interim government in regional Caucuses by demanding direct elections, the officials said.

Iraq`s restive northern Kurdish minority has also voiced approval of Hafez who has won the backing of Brahimi, the man on whom the US is now counting to produce an interim government amid surging violence against the coalition and demands for immediate sovereignty, the officials said.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher denied that the United States had endorsed any one of Brahimi`s suggestions although he confirmed that Hafez had been making the rounds in Washington this week.

Bureau Report