France has drafted a UN Security Council resolution on setting up an international mission to restore movement in the Strait of Hormuz and could submit it if conditions are right, the foreign ministry says according to Reuters, as Washington struggles to bring to a vote a text Russia and China may say is biased against Tehran.

A US-Bahraini resolution on the strait has been under discussion for more than two weeks, with a vote repeatedly delayed as China and Russia signal they could veto it.

The US-Bahraini draft resolution demands Iran halt attacks and mining in the strait. China and Russia vetoed a similar US-backed text in April, arguing it was biased against Tehran.

Washington has secured almost 140 countries to co-sponsor its text in the hope of avoiding a veto, two European diplomats said. France, another veto-wielding power, has so far refused to back the US text.