Iranian minister thanks Iraqi cleric for unity efforts

By Khaled Farhan

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) – Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr
Mottaki met leading Iraqi cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani
on Saturday in one of Iraq’s holiest cities and thanked him for
promoting unity between Iraq’s groups.

The meeting with Sistani, who has emerged as perhaps the
most powerful man in Iraq after Saddam Hussein’s downfall, in
the Shi’ite holy city of Najaf was likely to fuel Sunni Arab
fears that Shi’ite Iran was trying to gain influence in Iraq.

Mottaki, who had talks with Iraq’s new, Shi’ite-led
government in Baghdad on Friday, also visited another Shi’ite
shrine city, Kerbala, before heading to Najaf, home to the
shrine of Imam Ali, whose descendants founded Shi’ite Islam.

Shi’ite shrines have been a particular target of groups
trying to foment violence between the Shi’ite majority and the
Sunnis, who dominated Iraq under Saddam. Sistani has repeatedly
urged Shi’ites not to get sucked into sectarian conflict.

After meeting Sistani, Mottaki thanked the Shi’ite
religious establishment, or Marjaiya, which Sistani heads.

“I presented my gratitude to the Marjaiya for working for
the unity of the Iraqi people,” he told reporters.

“This visit (to the holy cities) raises my spirits,” he
said. His comments were translated into Arabic.

He also held talks in Najaf with Moqtada al-Sadr, a radical
Shi’ite cleric who gained popularity by leading two armed
revolts against U.S. and Iraqi forces.

Sadr has joined Iraq’s government but his Mehdi Army
militia remains one of the most powerful forces on the streets.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has vowed to get rid of such
groups.

Mottaki’s convoy braved one of Iraq’s most dangerous roads
to reach Najaf, underscoring the city’s importance.

His only other mode of transportation to Najaf would have
been U.S. helicopters used by other visiting officials but that
appeared to be an unacceptable option at a time of high
tensions between Tehran and Washington.

Mottaki’s trip to Iraq was the second such visit from Iran
since U.S.-led forces overthrew Saddam and oversaw the election
of an Iraqi Shi’ite Muslim leadership close to Iran.

But the Sunni minority are suspicious of non-Arab Iran,
against which Iraq fought a war in the 1980s.

Mottaki’s trip to Najaf may remind him of the long years
the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini spent there in exile
before launching Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution that rattled
the Sunni-dominated Arab world.

These days, Sunni leaders accuse Tehran of fomenting unrest
in Iraq to shackle U.S. military power in the region and of
coveting oil reserves in Iraq’s Shi’ite south.

Mottaki reiterated Tehran’s demands that crimes it says
were committed during the Saddam era against the Islamic
Republic be taken to court.

“Iran delivered a list of accusations to the Iraqi foreign
affairs ministry against Saddam and his aides to be sent to the
court to be discussed later,” said a joint Iraqi-Iranian
statement.

U.S. and British officials accuse Iranian forces of
providing bomb-making expertise and equipment to Iraqis, a
charge Tehran denies.