IRAQI parliament speaker Mahmud Mashhadani said yesterday that he will resign, ending a political crisis that had thrown into doubt arrangements for a British troop presence into next year.

The Iraqi parliament yesterday on Monday delayed a crucial vote to determine the future of British and other non-US foreign troops because of a row over the assembly speaker, a senior lawmaker said.

IRAQI Premier Nuri al-Maliki last night said Washington and Baghdad have agreed there will be no foreign forces in Iraq after 2011, setting a timeline for a US withdrawal from the war-torn country.