Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Sunday that he wanted the 1,432 Spanish troops in Iraq, whose mandate to serve in the US-led coalition officially ends on June 30, to return home as quickly as possible.

Bono revealed after the new Socialist government's first cabinet meeting that the pullout operation was under way.

"We already have an operative plan," Bono said, adding that the troops would return "as soon as possible and with maximum security. The process has started and will conclude swiftly."

Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Spain, in carrying through its electoral pledge to pull out of Iraq, had "initiated a serious debate."

He added that while US President George W. Bush had regretted Spain's decision "the public utterances of the American administration have been characterised by understanding for the Spanish position."

"We noted a willingness to look to the future," added Moratinos, saying that the new government had promised to withdraw unless the Spanish forces came under UN command by June 30.

According to Moratinos, recent diplomatic efforts "have led us to the conclusion that it was impossible to imagine that the UN would by June 30 be able to take over full political and military responsibility" for Iraq.

Asked whether troops from Central American countries serving alongside other countries might join Spain in leaving the allied coalition in Iraq, Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, Spain's first female first deputy prime minister, said simply: "That is a sovereign decision for those countries"

WAR.WIRE