Washington and Baghdad are very close to striking a deal on the future of US forces in Iraq, Condoleeza Rice, the US Secretary of State, said today, while noting that any timelines for troop reductions must be feasible.

Hoshyar Zebari, the Iraqi Foreign Minister, said that a draft copy of the text was due to be presented to a senior council of Iraqi ministers tomorrow. It would include “time horizons” for a US withdrawal, a key desire on the Iraqi side.

The comments came during a flying visit to Baghdad by Dr Rice, which drew a scathing reaction from the anti-US cleric Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr. He accused Washington of trying to pressure the Iraqi authorities to bend to its will.

Time is fast running out for the United States and Iraq to conclude the long-awaited accord before a United Nations mandate on the presence of foreign forces in the country expires at the end of the year.

Dr Rice, speaking after meetings with officials, including Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, said that the future role and size of US forces in Iraq would depend upon conditions on the ground. “We have agreed that some goals, some aspirational timetables for how that might unfold, are well worth having in such an agreement,” she said.

The status of forces agreement (Sofa) is a key milestone in Iraq’s emergence as a fully sovereign state. For the first time since the US-led invasion, It enables Baghdad to negotiate bilaterally the terms of the US presence on its soil. The deal, which is part of a strategic framework covering the two countries’ long-term relationship, will provide a legal basis for US soldiers to stay in Iraq post 2008.

US and Iraqi negotiators have been locked in discussions on the content of the pact since March, with the issue growing increasingly sensitive as several Iraqi leaders express their desire for a timeline for the exit of the remaining 144,000 US troops from their country. They would like US forces to pull out of cities from next summer to camps outside and for all US combat troops to leave Iraq by 2010 or 2011 provided that security gains remain intact.

Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential presumptive nominee, is hoping for a similar timeframe for the exit of combat forces, while John McCain, his Republican rival, and President Bush are keen to avoid setting a firm schedule for troops to leave.

Dr Rice, for her part, said that withdrawal targets had to be realistic. "We are continuing to work to make sure that any timelines that are in the agreement really do reflect what we believe can be done, what's feasible," she said.

In a sign of progress on the Iraqi side, Mr Zebari said that a draft copy of the accord would be presented tomorrow to the Political Council for National Security, which includes the President, Prime Minister and chiefs of all political parties. Aware of the need for speed, he said: “Time is of essence, we are redoubling efforts to bring it to a final conclusion."

Dr Rice told reporters on her aircraft before arriving in Baghdad that a deal was close. “It is undoubtedly true that the negotiators have taken this very, very far toward an end agreement, but there is no reason to believe that there is an agreement yet,” she said.

Other than troop levels, other controversial issues that need to be spelt out include the continued immunity for US forces from Iraqi law and the status of prisoners held by American forces. The US military holds some 21,000 prisoners in Iraq whom it deems dangerous but have not been charged with any crime.

The idea of agreement to allow US forces to remain in Iraq has stirred up emotions among those Iraqis who want all foreign troops out. Hojatoleslam al-Sadr, one of the harshest critics of the US military presence, denounced both the Secretary of State's visit and the pact.

"Today, Condoleezza Rice, the occupation foreign secretary, arrived in Iraq to try to put pressure on the Government of Iraq to accept terms dictated by the occupation to sign this ominous treaty," said a statement read out by Liwa Smeism, a political adviser at the cleric's office in the holy city of Najaf.

Britain must also sign a status of forces agreement with Iraq to govern the presence of the remaining contingent of British troops in the country beyond the end of the year. British officials are watching the US-Iraq talks closely.

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