Tehran - Iraq was forced to approve a security agreement with the United States that sets a schedule for the withdrawal of US forces, an Iranian cleric said Friday.

"The security bill was eventually approved but the Iraqi side (which) acted rather out of expediency because they were told (by the US) to either accept it or face the consequences," Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, spokesman of the senate-like Guardian Council, said at the Friday prayer ceremony.

Under the security agreement, US troops would withdraw from Iraqi cities by the end of June 2009 and from the rest of the country by the end of 2011.

"We hope that this agreement will turn to the positive," the ultraconservative Ayatollah, who is close to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said without further elaborating.

The Iranian government has not yet reacted to the agreement and Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said earlier this week that he hoped the agreement would consider the interests of Iraq and Iraqis.

Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, however, said Tuesday that considering the capability of the Iraqi government to run the country, the withdrawal of the US forces should be made sooner than mentioned in the pact (until 2011).

Tehran's strong opposition to the security agreement is an open secret but observers believe that in order not to harm relations with the Iraqi government and especially with the next administration of US president-elect Barack Obama, Iran has for the time being decided to adopt a rather soft stance on the issue. (dpa)