BAGHDAD — Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki received the clearest backing yet from Iran in his struggle to remain prime minister. The alliance would appear to pull Iraq closer into Iran’s orbit.
In his first visit to Iran since national elections in March, al-Maliki met with religious and government leaders and appeared to receive Tehran’s support over his Shiite rivals for forming a government.
“With the occupying forces exiting Iraq and given the current sensitive circumstances, (al-Maliki) seems to be one of the appropriate choices for Iraq,” Iran Deputy Foreign Minister Rauf Sheybani told the Islamic Republic News Agency, adding that al-Maliki was “respected” by Iran.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who met with al-Maliki, welcomed a post-U.S. era in Iraq.
“The Iraqi nation is vigilant, and aggressors cannot dominate this country again. May God get rid of America in Iraq so that its people’s problems are solved,” state television quoted Khamenei as telling the Iraqi leader.
Al-Maliki was expected to travel to Qom, a center of Shiite religious scholarship, to meet Muqtada al-Sadr, the hard-line cleric whose militia fought against Iraqi forces in Basra and other cities two years ago.
The al-Sadr movement, which won about 12 percent of seats in the 325- member parliament, announced last week that it would throw its support behind al-Maliki — a reversal of its long-held position.
Al-Maliki, in an Oct. 8 interview with The Christian Science Monitor, denied that he had promised the al-Sadr bloc security posts in exchange for their support, but he said they would receive a number of Cabinet positions proportionate to their numbers within his coalition.
The U.S. has publicly expressed alarm at the prospect of the Sadrists having substantial power, despite their strong showing in what Washington called credible elections.
Even with Iran’s backing however, al-Maliki is still far from assured of forming a government. His coalition is several seats short of a simple majority in parliament and many more seats short of what would be considered a comfortable majority.
The two major Kurdish factions have been negotiating with al-Maliki and Ayad Allawi, head of a Sunni-backed coalition, after presenting them with a list of 21 demands, which include Kurdish control over resources in the north, allocation of disputed territories and veto power over key decisions.
The U.S. has been pushing an arrangement that would keep al-Maliki as prime minister but give a strong role to Allawi in an effort to form a more inclusive government that would not sideline Sunni Arabs.
