CANBERRA, (Australia), Nov 12: Senior government ministers ruled out any hasty withdrawal of Australian or US troops from Iraq on Sunday after continuing violence in the Middle East country was blamed for the major power shift at US Congressional elections.

Prime Minister John Howard has also revealed that he had agreed in a telephone conversation with his ally in the Iraq invasion, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, to keep their troops deployed.

The ouster of US Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld underscored the prominence of Iraq at midterm elections last week that delivered both houses of Congress to the Democrats.

Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said while the US-led coalition's strategy was constantly under review, his centre-right government would not withdraw its 1,400 troops that are deployed in and around Iraq.

''We are constantly refining the approach that we actually take to delivering the strategic outcome that we all want in Iraq,'' Nelson told Network Ten television.

''The idea of dropping our bundle, leaving people in the lurch and then demanding someone else lift our load for us-- we are not going to do that,'' he added.—AP