However, the US Department of State insists preliminary talks on a new UN resolution aimed at underpinning the handover had "proceeded well," even as fresh accounts of abuse continue to seep onto the front pages of newspapers around the world.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters Monday: "I'd say there's a fair amount of congruence on the major issues to be addressed," in referring to the resolution bid, for which no formal document has yet to be authored.

A senior State Department official nevertheless underlined that the graphic photos of abuse that emerged in recent days had led some US allies to seek "reassurances" that the affair would be dealt with "seriously."

The photos are "certainly a matter of concern to people, it is a matter people want to talk about," said the official who requested anonymity, adding "it makes it more disruptive ... there is more that has to be dealt with as we move forward."

The photos have shown smiling US soldiers posing beside a pyramid of naked Iraqi prisoners; a dead and bruised Iraqi man laying in an unzipped body bag and Iraqis being sexually humiliated.

"I don't see any particular delay in moving forward on other issues, but there is certainly an interest on the part of other countries in knowing we are handling this right," the official said.

Secretary of State Colin Powell and his deputy Richard Armitage acknowledged last week that the abuse scandal had put back the US diplomatic mission in Iraq and across the Middle East.

The scandal has also presented a major setback to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a strong US ally on the UN Security Council.

Blair's Labour Party currently has the backing of fewer than a third of voters, its worst position for more than 17 years, a British poll showed late Monday.

Italy does not hold a permanent seat on the Security Council, but it has troops deployed in Iraq, and the Italian premier was moved Monday to voice his concern over the ongoing fallout from events inside Abu Ghraib.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, also a top US ally, condemned on Monday the abuse of prisoners in Iraq and warned it was an obstacle to peace in the country.

France and Germany, two of the main opponents to the US-led war that toppled Saddam Hussein last year, have also denounced the abuses committed in the prison, which was formerly used by Saddam to torture and execute his opponents.

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, said there was "no question" that Paris would not send troops to Iraq, despite US hopes that French troops might be sent to Iraq under a possible UN mission.