Mr Berlusconi initially made the announcement on state television

Mr Berlusconi told the US president of his plans to begin withdrawing troops this September in a telephone call.

Mr Berlusconi said the decision to remove his troops would depend on Iraq's security situation.

Earlier, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair had said that neither Italy or the UK had set a date to bring back troops.

Italy has just over 3,000 troops in Iraq, working alongside US forces.

Conditional withdrawal

Mr Berlusconi has been one of US President George W Bush's staunchest allies in the US-led war in Iraq.

During the phone call, Mr Berlusconi expressed "the hope that he could begin a gradual and progressive withdrawal of the Italian military contingent in Iraq as soon as possible, and preferably from September", the Italian government said in a statement.

Main international troops in Iraq US: 150,000 UK: 8,000 South Korea: 3,600 Italy: 3,085 Poland: 1,700 Ukraine: 1,600 Georgia: 898 Romania: 730 Japan: 550 Denmark: 496 Bulgaria: 450 Australia: 400 Source: Global Security

The statement said that such a plan would depend on the growing ability of the Iraqi government to fulfil the country's security and public order needs.

Withdrawal would be carried out "in full consultation with both the Iraqi government and with allied governments", the statement said.

Mr Berlusconi, who faces increasing domestic opposition to his country's involvement in Iraq, first made the surprise announcement on a state television programme on Tuesday evening.

Analysts say it was probably aimed at a domestic rather than an international audience, ahead of Italy's general election.

Italian opposition to the presence of their troops in Iraq has intensified since the killing of an Italian agent by US forces in Baghdad earlier this month.

Earlier on Wednesday UK Prime Minister Tony Blair had appeared to play down the Italian announcement, saying that neither government had definitively decided when it would leave.