ISTANBUL, June 26: Nato nations agreed on Saturday to train Iraq's new army, two days before a summit of the military alliance which risked being overshadowed by new transatlantic tension over Iraq.

None of the alliance's 26 member states had objected to an accord hammered out by Nato ambassadors on Friday by a deadline of Saturday afternoon, diplomats said.

"Nato heads of state and government are expected to approve this agreement at their summit meeting in Istanbul on June 28," Nato Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in a statement.

The Nato nations were united "in their full support for the independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity" of Iraq and for strengthening its security, democracy and human rights, he added.

Monday's formal green light from Nato leaders would come just before the US-led coalition hands over sovereignty to Iyad Allawi's interim Iraqi government on Wednesday.

Prime minister Allawi asked the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on Monday for help in the form of military training and "technical assistance" - a request that was backed strongly by US President George Bush.

But France, which along with Nato partners Germany and Belgium fiercely opposed last year's US-led invasion of Iraq, was unhappy about seeing the alliance "planting its flag in Iraq", French diplomats said.

Details of the Nato accord were not immediately released ahead of the Istanbul summit.

But the Nato ambassadors had held lengthy talks on whether the proposed involvement would constitute a formal "Nato mission" or a "contribution by Nato through its member states", an alliance diplomat said.

"It's all about nuances," the source said, while denying any talk of "crisis" in the organization after it plunged into bitter acrimony last year in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.

In particular, France and Germany made clear that they would not consent to the highly symbolic step of sending any of their own officers to Iraq itself to take part in the training of the country's armed forces.

But Paris and Berlin have signalled that they could take part in training operations in Iraq's neighbours or at Nato staff colleges in Europe.

Nevertheless, a senior Nato official said, "the great bulk of the Nato effort would have to be inside (Iraq), just for logistical reasons - that's where the Iraqis are!"-AFP