WASHINGTON - The United States has reached an agreement with France and will seek United Nations Security Council approval by Friday of a resolution that requires Iraq to dismantle its weapons of mass destruction and warns of "serious consequences" if Iraq fails to comply, U.S. officials said last night.

A revised text of a resolution will be formally circulated this morning, first to the council's five permanent members and then to the full 15-member council, officials said. A council vote will be set for 48 hours later.

"We believe we now have a resolution that will draw wide support in the Security Council, sending a strong message to Iraq that it must cooperate," the State Department said last night. "In one way or another, Iraq has no choice but to disarm."

The reported agreement with France, reached in phone calls between Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, ended weeks of public and sometimes tense exchanges over the wording of a resolution.

France, seeking to preserve the power of the Security Council and its own influence as a permanent member, sought to limit President Bush's freedom to launch military action against Iraq by requiring the United States to consult in advance with the council.

A French diplomat refused to confirm that an agreement had been reached, but said: "There has been big progress." Agreement from Russia and China was not certain. Bush was expected to call Russian President Vladimir V. Putin today to seek his support, a diplomat said.

The U.S. statement, read by a State Department spokesman, said the new text met the United States' basic goals: It states that Iraq is in "material breach" of U.N. mandates, which in the past has been grounds for military action; it spells out a "tough" program for U.N. weapons inspectors, who have been barred from Iraq for four years; and makes clear that Iraq faces "serious consequences" if it fails to comply.

The resolution would not "handcuff" the United States in taking action alone if the United Nations failed to respond to new Iraqi violations, the U.S. statement said.

Diplomats said the United States has agreed that the Security Council would be notified of attempts to obstruct U.N. weapons inspectors and would be given the opportunity to decide how to respond. However, the United States has reserved the right to act with like-minded countries if the Security Council failed to take strong action.

U.N. weapons inspectors are ready to go to Iraq to begin preliminary work within 10 days after the resolution is adopted by the Security Council.

Some U.S. officials are eager for a quick and clear test of Iraqi cooperation, fearing that Iraq will succeed in dragging out the process into the hot summer months when it would be difficult to fight a war to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein.

But Powell, in an interview with journalists from Security Council-member countries that was released yesterday, insisted: "This is not a resolution for war. This is a resolution to try to resolve a crisis in international relations that has been put before the United Nations, not by the United States, but by Iraq."