BRUSSELS Syria has pledged to put its controversial pipeline from Iraq under the control of the United Nations, AFP quoted U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell as saying here Tuesday.

The scheme will allow the United Nations to supervise Baghdad's exports and place oil revenue under the control of the oil-for-food program, he said.

Powell said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had assured him three times in the course of a one-hour meeting late Monday in Damascus that his country did not want to violate UN sanctions on Iraq which prohibit Baghdad from exporting oil outside the auspices of the program.

"The president said to me, in response to my query, that it is their plan to bring the pipeline and what is going through the pipeline and revenues generated in that pipeline to be under the same kind of control as other elements of the sanctions program," Powell said.