Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero (l) says his troops will not return

"There is no possibility, we are not considering it," said Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero after a meeting with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Mr Blair expressed optimism for a swift handover of sovereignty in Iraq.

He told a joint news conference he was sure a UN Security Council resolution on the handover of power to an Iraqi government could be passed soon.

There are concerns over the transfer of power to a sovereign Iraq in France and in other countries.

"There are details and drafting to be done," Mr Blair said, speaking at Downing Street.

"That will be done. I am reasonably optimistic that it will be done in a pretty short space of time," he added.

Mr Blair added that security council members - of which Spain is one - had agreed on the "single principle that sovereignty should be transferred in a full and indivisible way."

Pull-out

Mr Zapatero pulled Spain's 1,300 troops out of Iraq - sent there under the previous Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar - last month.

Mr Zapatero told Thursday's news conference the multinational force remaining in Iraq after the 30 June handover of sovereignty should "remain for the shortest possible time."

He added Spain would not consider sending troops to Iraq, even as part of a United Nations taskforce.

Spain's heaviest loss in Iraq was the death of seven of its intelligence officers in a mortar and grenade attack on their convoy in Latifiya in December.