Iran 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.

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.

Mottaki’s trip to Iraq was the second such visit from Iran
since U.S.-led forces overthrew Saddam in 2003 and oversaw the
election of an Iraqi Shi’ite Muslim leadership close to Iran.

The new national unity government of Shi’ite Islamist Nuri
al-Maliki, sworn in on May 20, has vowed to rein in the
violence that has killed thousands of Iraqis in the past three
years.

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

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.

U.S. and British officials accuse Iranian forces of
providing bomb-making expertise and equipment to Iraqis.

In Baghdad on Friday, Mottaki ruled out for now proposed
talks with the United States over the future of Iraq because of
Washington’s “negative” attitude.

Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, is home to the
shrine of Imam Ali, whose descendants founded Shi’ite Islam.