The government will probably postpone Cabinet approval of a basic plan to send Self-Defense Forces units to Iraq until after next week's special Diet session, officials said Tuesday.

The government originally hoped to approve the plan Friday during a Cabinet meeting. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will arrive in Japan the same day.

"We have not been able to decide on specifics," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told a regular news conference. "If there was no problem, it would be easy to dispatch (SDF units) anywhere (in Iraq). But we have to be careful in settling on a plan because there are (security) problems."