The United States agreed last night to another round of changes in a draft resolution ending UN sanctions on Iraq and said it now hoped to bring the measure to a vote in the Security Council tomorrow.
"We initially talked about voting on it tomorrow [Wednesday], but in light of some of the issues that arose, including a number of technical questions plus some changes that the co-sponsors are willing to consider, we agreed that the vote would in all likelihood take place on Thursday morning," US Ambassador John Mr Negroponte told reporters.
The current US draft, Washington's third, was introduced on Monday, co-sponsored by Britain and Spain.
Mr Negroponte spoke after members of the 15-nation council raised numerous questions and suggested dozens of changes in the 12-page draft during a four-hour closed-door debate, according to participants.
Nonetheless, "our hopes are quite high that there will be a large number of votes for this resolution" when it comes to a vote, British UN Ambassador Mr Jeremy Greenstock said.
"We are listening to every point that is being made (but) we can't meet them all on this time-scale, and they are still asking for further concessions, which I don't think the co-sponsors are going to make," Mr Greenstock said.
The resolution would end nearly 13 years of UN sanctions, imposed on Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War, as well as strict UN controls on the Iraqi economy.
It would give occupying powers the United States and Britain broad authority to run Iraq and use its oil revenues, until a new Iraqi government was in place.
Despite the unprecedented powers granted to Washington and London, the Security Council's major powers, eager to mend the rifts created by Washington's failed campaign for UN approval for its invasion of Iraq, have refrained from veto threats and the measure is widely expected to be adopted.
A key question is whether France, which infuriated Washington by leading the charge against UN authorisation for the war, will vote "Yes" or abstain.
Diplomats said Paris, concerned by the lack of any deadline for installing an Iraqi government, wanted the resolution to lapse after a year, at which time the council could renew it.
But Mr Negroponte said Washington "would not agree" to a one-year deadline, subject to council renewal.