An end to the air mission would bring a close to the last of Japan's military operations in Iraq, which have been a watershed for a country that has been officially pacifist since the end of World War II.

Domestic legislation expires in July next year that allows the mission, under which Japanese airplanes based in Kuwait bring supplies and people into Iraq on behalf of the US-led coalition and the United Nations.

Bunmei Ibuki, secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, noted UN Security Council resolution 1790 allows foreign troops to operate in Iraq only until the end of this year.

"After the existing UN resolution expires, I think it would require a serious effort if you were to take the current rationale and continue the mission," said Ibuki, the party's number two after Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.

Ibuki, who said he was offering his personal view, was reacting to a newspaper report that the ruling party had decided to end the mission by the end of the year.

The conservative Sankei Shimbun, which did not identify its sources, said the Liberal Democrats believed it would be difficult to win the support of the opposition, which controls one house of parliament.

The opposition has flexed its muscles since its historic win last year, hoping to scuttle the government's agenda in anticipation of general elections.

Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba denied a decision has been taken to end the air mission, saying a new UN resolution could extend the mandate of multinational forces.

"At this point, it's extremely difficult to say conclusively what will happen in the future," Ishiba told reporters. "For now, we'll simply carry out our mission."

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki this month voiced support for the departure of US combat troops by the end of 2010, a deadline similar to one proposed by US presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Japan's opposition was sharply critical in 2003 of then prime minister Junichiro Koizumi's strong backing for the US-led invasion of Iraq that removed Saddam Hussein from power.

Koizumi took the landmark decision of sending troops to southern Iraq on a non-combat humanitarian mission. It was the first Japanese military deployment since World War II to a country where fighting was underway.

Koizumi brought the troops home on leaving office in 2006 after a two-and-a-half-year mission in which the forces did not suffer any casualties.

Japan's opposition last year forced a temporary suspension of a separate military mission that provides fuel and other logistical support in the Indian Ocean to US-led forces engaged in Afghanistan.

"We are very appreciative of what Japan has done both in Iraq and Afghanistan," Thomas Schieffer, the US ambassador to Japan, said after meeting with Fukuda on Tuesday.

"We are hopeful that they are able to continue making contributions to the realisation of both a peaceful Iraq and peaceful Afghanistan," he said.

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