Britain, France and Germany agreed on Wednesday to water down their draft resolution imposing sanctions on Iran for its unyielding nuclear program, as they attempt to bring it to a vote on Friday.

The latest text, a copy of which was obtained by Xinhua, urged nations to notify the sanction committee of the Security Council of the travel of certain Iranian officials
"All states shall notify the committee of the entry into or transit through their territories of the persons designated in the annex to this resolution," the resolution said.

Instead of preventing persons related to Iran's nuclear program from traveling abroad, the new text just called upon states to exercise vigilance regarding their movements.

"The new text has a number of changes which go quite a long way to meeting Russian concerns," German Ambassador Thomas Matussek told reporters after a closed meeting with his counterparts from the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.

According to an anonymous UN diplomat, Europeans offered the compromises in an effort to get Russian support for a vote by the end of this week.

Britain, France and Germany circulated a revised draft resolution two weeks ago to UN Security Council members imposing sanctions on Iran for its refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment activities.

It urges Iran to suspend all enrichment activities as well as all heavy water related projects, and further bars Iran from importing or exporting key materials and technology related to nuclear and ballistic missile programs. However, it does allow for dual-use items.

However, some articles of the text met with Russian concern, who insisted that the travel ban and the financial sanctions are unnecessary.

In another development, the Bush administration is weighing options for a naval build-up in the Persian Gulf as a warning to Iran over its nuclear program.

Under the proposed build-up, the Pentagon would send an aircraft carrier to join its regional taskforce. The proposed deployment has been described as a message to Teheran not to take provocative steps, rather than preparation for an attack.

"The administration has been pretty clear about Iran's role in the region, which is that Iran has to stop being provocative," White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters.

The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D Eisenhower has been in the region since September, along with four other ships and submarines. The navy could move other carriers into the region within six weeks.

However, if the US were to contemplate a military strike, it would need far more than two carriers, said Reva Bhalla, an analyst at Strategic Forecasting Inc, pointing to the five carriers deployed ahead of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Outgoing UN secretary general Kofi Annan said on Tuesday that military intervention in Iran would be "unwise and disastrous," as the Security Council debated a resolution that would impose sanctions on Teheran over its nuclear program.

Reports that the US is leaning towards an even stronger posture against Iran reflects indications that Washington wants to deepen its regional military presence.

(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily December 21, 2006)