UNITED NATIONS, 22 May 2003 — The United States appeared set to win the UN Security Council’s support for its resolution to lift sanctions against Iraq in a vote today, as Washington’s top official in Baghdad postponed a key meeting on the country’s political future.

Washington submitted a fresh revision of its draft resolution to the Security Council, saying the text was now final and would be put to a vote today at 9.30 a.m. (1330 GMT).

The revised draft — the fourth since May 9 — attempted to bridge the divide between council members who wanted to set a time limit on the US occupation of Iraq and those who want it to last until an Iraqi government is in place.

In an attempt to find a compromise, the draft now says the council will “review the implementation of this resolution within 12 months of adoption and consider further steps that might be necessary.”

A council diplomat, who asked not to be identified, forecast that at least 14 of the 15 council members would now vote for the draft resolution, which is co-sponsored by the United States and Britain.

“We would welcome the strongest possible statement by the council and if consensus were possible that would be very desirable,” US Ambassador John Negroponte said after submitting the draft to the council.

“Our impression is that the council members have welcomed this resolution and that it enjoys strong support, but I would hesitate to predict for you what the precise vote count is going to be,” he said.

If adopted, the resolution would immediately lift the economic sanctions imposed on Iraq after it invaded Kuwait in August 1990 and would place Iraq’s oil revenues into a Development Fund to be spent “at the direction” of the coalition.

In a further sign the international community is trying to overcome the massive splits that emerged in the runup to the war, the UN’s nuclear agency said Washington had agreed it could send a team of nuclear inspectors back to Iraq.

As the diplomatic horse trading over the shape of postwar Iraq continued at the United Nations, the top US official in Baghdad delayed for a second time a planned Iraqi national congress that would chart the country’s political future.

In a move that has angered Iraq’s increasingly frustrated political factions, US administrator Paul Bremer said he now expected the congress to take place in July rather than the previous target of June.

Bremer also made clear he was not going to impose “any kind of media deadline” for holding the congress, which aims to create the interim authority that would ultimately take the country toward elections.

The Iraqi National Congress, one of the groups involved in planning the meeting, responded by saying that it was “not up to the Americans to delay this government.”

Bremer played down the significance of the seven-strong leadership council of former Iraqi exiles established under his predecessor Jay Garner, which he said must now be broadened.

“We want a government representative of the Iraqi people. That’s the process we are in now. We are moving as quickly as we can,” said Bremer. As the US administration battled to eliminate the anarchy that has gripped Iraq over the past six weeks, Bremer reopened a former interrogation center of Saddam Hussein’s secret police that will serve as a jail for looters.

However US attempts to present a strong security message were undermined by a bomb scare near the prison, as well as a protest for unpaid wages from the police officers expected to work in the facility.

Meanwhile, US officials said the administration will start paying wages to Iraqi civil servants, but not military or intelligence personnel, from Saturday.

In Brussels, NATO announced it has agreed to examine how it can help Polish troops in Iraq, in a move applauded by Washington as giving the military alliance “an involvement” in the country.

US ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns also raised the possibility that the decision could give NATO — which suffered the worst crisis in its history over Iraq — a “larger role” in rebuilding the country.