Under an emerging agreement a "double-hatted" officer from the US multinational force in Iraq would coordinate the NATO mission under the authority and within the military framework of NATO, said the official.

"No decisions have been taken. Consensus is moving in the direction of a set of options for an enhanced NATO role for training" in Iraq, said the official, requesting anonymity.

"We expect a decision in the coming days, within a week if things go well," he said, speaking after a weekly meeting of the North Atlantic Council (NAC), the Alliance's top decision-making body.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) leaders agreed at a summit in Istanbul in June to launch the training mission, after overcoming reservations notably from France which objected to operations under a NATO flag inside Iraq.

The official added that discussions within the 26-member Alliance were moving in the direction of the creation of a NATO-supported Iraqi training and education centre in Iraq.

NATO already has some 40 soldiers in Iraq who began training army officers in collaboration with the defence ministry in Baghdad. The issue of the command structure led to stormy debate in July, notably between the US and France.

Washington wanted the mission to come under the command of US General George Casey, who commands the multi-national force in Iraq, but France rejected that proposal. The compromise was hammered out this week, notably in NATO's Military Committee.

But diplomats sought to temper hopes of an end to tensions within NATO over Iraq, explaining that more discussions were planned. "We have an agreement on the framework, now we have to fill in the content," said one.

On Tuesday US ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns said that "NATO's decision to establish a training mission in Iraq was "irrevocable," pointing out that a headquarters had already been established.

"It is NATO's obligation to expand that mission significantly in the coming weeks and months," he said.

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