WASHINGTON, May 14: The United States, Britain, Italy and Japan would pull their troops out of Iraq if the new interim authority that takes control after June 30 says they should, foreign ministers of the four countries said on Friday.

"Were this interim government to say to us, we really think we can handle this on our own and it will be better if you were to leave, we will leave," US Secretary of State Colin Powell told a news conference after chairing a foreign ministers' meeting of the Group of Eight highly industrialized countries.

In Baghdad, the US overseer for Iraq, Paul Bremer, also aired the possibility of an American pullout from the country, saying the United States did not stay where it was "not welcome".

"If the provisional government asks us to leave, we will leave," he said, referring to the administration due to take power after a June 30 deadline for the handover of sovereignty.

"I don't think that will happen but obviously we don't stay in countries where we're not welcome," he said at a working lunch in Baghdad with Iraqi officials from Diyala province.

"The CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) dissolves on June 30. Does that mean that the United States is going away? Absolutely not," he said.

The three main tasks of the 30-strong transitional government over its seven-month lifespan are running the country, preparing for elections and dealing with the security headache plaguing Iraq. But critics have questioned how much sovereignty Baghdad will have, noting that the United States will still maintain an autonomous military presence in the country.

UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is currently in Iraq consulting on the make-up of the post-June 30 administration.-AFP