US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday he expects that there'll be fewer US troops in Iraq next year.

"I'm not saying when in 2009, but I believe we will have a lower number of troops in Iraq in 2009," he told reporters in Pentagon.

US President George W. Bush said Thursday he had no plans to reduce the number of US troops in Iraq below 140,000 once they fall to that level this summer.

He said top US Commander in Iraq David Petraeus will have "all the time he needs" once the planned reduction ends to determine when or if more troops can come home.

However, Gates appeared to disagree with Bush on how long it would be before that decision came, saying repeatedly over the past two days that there would be only a "brief pause" in troop reductions.

But the defense chief denied a split exists between the Pentagon and the White House or that he was contradicting his commander in Iraq.

He also said Iranian support for militias in Iraq has grown and the United States will be as aggressive as possible to counter that increase.

(Xinhua News Agency April 12, 2008)