WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said yesterday that critics should “just back off” on demands for deadlines in Iraq and that it is difficult to predict when Iraqis will resume control of their country.

At a Pentagon news conference, Mr. Rumsfeld said benchmarks for security, political, and economic progress that American and Iraqi officials have been discussing are valuable because “you are in effect establishing priorities.”

But he said the time lines have no specific deadlines or consequences if goals are not met by specific dates.

“You’re looking for some sort of a guillotine to come falling down if some date isn’t met. That is not what this is about,” Mr. Rumsfeld told reporters.

“They’ve been discussing the way forward through the rest of this year and next year,” Mr. Rumsfeld said of discussions between American and Iraqi officials. “As they do that, they then discuss, ‘Well, when might something happen?’ And it isn’t a date. And it isn’t a penalty if it doesn’t” happen.

“You ought to just back off, take a look at it, relax, understand that it’s complicated, it’s difficult,” Mr. Rumsfeld said regarding deadlines. “Honorable people are working on these things together. There isn’t any daylight between them.”

Mr. Rumsfeld also said America is considering whether it should speed up money planned for recruiting, training, and equipping Iraqi security forces. Officials have said training Iraqis to take over security is key to withdrawing American and other coalition forces.

“We intend to increase their budgets” as well as their capabilities, Mr. Rumsfeld said, and officials will help make the improvements more quickly. He did not cite any figures, however. His press secretary, Eric Ruff, said a review of their needs is under way.