Al-Sadr paves the way for a “big” return that Tehran rejects and Washington fears
Al-Sadr paves the way for a “big” return that Tehran rejects and Washington fears
2024-05-12 23:15
Shafaq News/ The leader of the “Shiite National Movement”, Muqtada al-Sadr, is paving the way for his return to the political scene, two years after the failure of his attempt to form a government without his competitors from the coordination framework.
Reuters confirms this in a report based on more than 20 sources, including Shiite politicians in the Sadrist movement, rival factions, clerics, politicians in Najaf, government officials, and analysts, on the condition that their identities not be revealed due to the sensitivity of the topic.
Reuters quoted observers who believed that Al-Sadr’s likely planned return in the parliamentary elections in 2025 may threaten the growing influence of competitors, including Shiite parties and Iraqi armed factions close to Iran, and undermine the relative stability that Iraq has witnessed recently.
According to Reuters, many of the country’s Shiite majority are likely to welcome Al-Sadr’s return, especially his supporters, most of whom are religious and poor followers who consider him a champion of the weak.
A former representative of the Sadrist movement said, “This time, the Sadrist movement has a stronger determination than before to win a larger number of seats to form a majority government,” although the final decision to run has not been made officially.
The Sadrist movement won the parliamentary elections in 2021, but Al-Sadr ordered his deputies to resign. Then, the following year, he announced his final withdrawal from the political process in the country after rival Shiite parties thwarted his attempt to form a majority government with only Kurdish and Sunni parties.
Al-Sadr, a prominent figure in Iraq since the Washington-led invasion in 2003, denounces the influence of both Iran and the United States in Iraq.
Iran considers Al-Sadr’s participation in political life important for preserving Iraq’s Shiite-dominated political system in the long term, although Tehran rejects his aspirations to recognize him as a single dominant power.
The United States, which fought militants loyal to Al-Sadr after he declared “jihad” against it in 2004, sees Al-Sadr as a threat to Iraq’s fragile stability, but it also sees him as a tool to confront Iranian influence.
Many Iraqis say their conditions are worsening regardless of who takes power, while elites drain the country’s oil wealth.
shafaq.com
