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BAGHDAD Signs of strain have emerged recently between the United States and Iraq over the timetable and military components of a campaign to retake major population centers occupied by the Islamic State.

Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter told Congress this week that the U.S. Central Command was inaccurate when it told reporters recently that an offensive in Mosul could begin as early as April. But that timeline had already provoked a retort from Carters Iraqi counterpart, who said the United States was not familiar with Iraqs battle plan for the northwestern city.

Speaking at a news conference late last month, Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi said that Baghdad would determine the timing for the Mosul offensive.

Other officials here cite a raft of challenges that could delay or complicate offensives in Mosul and elsewhere, including the capacity of Iraqi government forces to hold recaptured territory and ongoing problems coordinating with Kurdish forces, called the peshmerga.

Perhaps most worrying are growing sensitivities about the role played by Iranian-backed Shiite militias in government offensives being carried out in mainly Sunni areas. A key test is the campaign to retake the majority-Sunni city of Tikrit, 125miles south of Mosul, from the Islamic State.

There are concerns that that battle will turn into a bloody war of attrition. Just a fraction of at least 10,000 pro-government fighters massing around Tikrit are from the official armed forces, highlighting the militarys reliance on militias and volunteers as the United States and other coalition partners seek to rebuild and retrain Iraqs security forces.

[View: The military assault on Tikrit, Iraq, in pictures]

Secretary of State John F. Kerry acknowledged Wednesday that Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps elite Quds Force, was on the ground and playing a role in the Tikrit operation, although he insisted that the Iraqi government was in charge and that the need for the militias was only temporary.

As the Iraqi army stands up more and more, militias and external actors are going to be less and less imperative and needed, Kerry said, speaking at a news conference in Riyadh on Thursday with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal. But thats not where they are, he said of the Iraqi army forces in Tikrit.

For now, Kerry said of Iranian and militia participation, we take it the way it is.

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Iraq officials cast doubt on prospects for an early offensive to retake Mosul