Washington ? The United States is preparing to revise its proposed U.N. resolution on Iraqi weapons inspections in a move certain to delay Security Council action past the midterm elections.

A senior U.S. official told The Associated Press on Thursday the changes would reflect the views of Russia and France without altering the tough approach demanded by the United States and Britain. Russia and France object to threatening Iraq with “serious consequences” if it fails to disarm.

Secretary of State Colin Powell discussed the U.S. strategy by telephone Thursday with Foreign Ministers Igor Ivanov of Russia and Dominique de Villepin of France.

Revising the resolution could take a day or two after which diplomats who have been negotiating at the United Nations for seven weeks would consult their capitals, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

That means consideration of a resolution would spill over into next week with a vote probably not until midweek or even later. The political effect would be that President Bush will be able to hold back on announcing whether he intends to go to war with Iraq a potentially explosive issue until after Tuesday’s elections.

Russia’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations said Wednesday that his government still had “quite a lot of problems” with the U.S.-British draft.