United States White House special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad would be chairing a meeting of prominent Iraqis in the coming week to start discussions on the country's future, according to a US military spokesman.

Captain Frank Thorp, a spokesman at central command's war headquarters in Qatar, on Friday refused to confirm a report from an Iraqi exile that the meeting of Saddam Hussein's opponents would be on Tuesday in the southern city of Nassiriya.

But he did give details about the meeting. "The majority of the people attending will be from inside Iraq and there will also be attendees from outside Iraq returning to their country," Thorp said.

He could not confirm if Iraqi National Congress's Ahmad Chalabi would attend the meeting.

"This will allow initial discussions on the principles on which the future Iraqi self-governing system could be based," Thorp said. "It will be moderated by Dr Zalmay Khalilzad, US special envoy to Iraq."