Washington ? The United States and Iraq unveiled their formal agreement Sunday on terms for the U.S.-led multinational force to remain in Iraq as they tried to end divisions at the United Nations and win a quick vote on a proposed resolution to confer legitimacy on Iraq’s new interim government.

But at an unusual Sunday session called on short notice to accelerate passage, France introduced a last-minute amendment, backed by Germany, China and Algeria, that calls for Iraq to have full authority over whether its troops engage in “sensitive offensive operations” alongside U.S. and other foreign troops, according to U.N. diplomats.

The United States will offer new revisions in a final draft today to accommodate several proposals by France, Russia, Germany, China, Chile and Algeria and then call for a vote on the resolution by the 15-member Security Council on Tuesday, according to U.S. and U.N. diplomats.

The Bush administration is optimistic that it is nearly over the last major diplomatic hurdle before the June 30 transition of power. “I am confident that over the next couple of days … we will see the Security Council come together, vote on that resolution, and pass it. And I am very encouraged by what’s been happening in New York at the U.N. over the last couple of days,” Secretary of State Colin Powell said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

The formal agreement on security arrangements is outlined in two letters to the Security Council, written by Iraq’s new Prime Minister-designate Ayad Allawi and Powell, that call for a “partnership” between Iraq and a multinational force of some 160,000 troops to be coordinated through a new Iraqi national security committee chaired by Allawi.

U.S. and Iraqi officials will “keep each other informed of their activities, consult regularly to ensure effective allocation and use of personnel, resources and facilities, will share intelligence and will refer issues up the respective chains of command where necessary,” Allawi wrote.

The United States in turn pledged to respect Iraqi sovereignty and coordinate all military actions at local, regional and national levels. Its threefold mission will be to maintain security so Iraq can hold elections and complete the political transition by the end of 2005, prevent terrorism and protect Iraqi territory until Baghdad’s own forces can assume control.

Under the new agreement, the United States will still be able to detain Iraqis or foreigners when “necessary for imperative reasons of security” despite the handover on June 30 of full sovereignty to Baghdad, a particularly sensitive issue in light of the U.S. treatment of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib and other prisons.