United States' plans to overhaul UN sanctions against Iraq are likely to be delayed because of the new situation created by the 11 September attacks.

According to diplomats at the United Nations, the US wants to avoid picking a quarrel with Russia - which earlier this year blocked the introduction of what were dubbed "smart sanctions".

Diplomats stress that no decision has yet been reached - but there is a growing expectation that when the sanctions against Iraq come up for renewal in early December, they will be renewed unchanged for a further six months.

The US and Britain would still like to overhaul the sanctions regime - to try to deprive the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein of the propaganda argument that the existing sanctions are punishing innocent Iraqi civilians.

But Russia remains opposed to the planned changes - and in Washington and London, Russia is viewed as a valuable ally in the campaign against global terrorism.

On the agenda

US President George W Bush is likely to raise the sanctions issue when he holds a summit meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia next week.

According to a Russian diplomat in the Middle East, Mr Putin will visit Iraq as part of a regional tour he is planning - though not apparently in the near future.

Such a visit would highlight the differences between the US and Russia on the Iraq issue.

Even if the current sanctions regime is extended, that does not mean that the broader issue of Iraq is off the American agenda - far from it.

A debate is still under way about what to do about Iraq's programme to develop weapons of mass destruction, and its alleged links with terrorism.