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Tehran: Officials in Iran confirmed for the first time yesterday that the country played an important role in brokering a recent truce between the Iraqi government and anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr.
Iran helped end the clashes between Iraqi government troops and Al Sadr's Mahdi Army militia for the sake of Shiite unity, said a senior Iranian official who deals with Iraq.
"It is in Iran's best interests to see unity among Shiite factions," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki heads a Shiite-dominated government in Iraq, but has clashed with other Shiite factions in the country, including the one led by Al Sadr.
The Iraqi prime minister sparked clashes with Al Sadr's Mahdi Army over a week ago when he sent government troops to Basra to crack down on Shiite militias. The fighting eased last Sunday after Al Sadr ordered his men off the streets and called on the Iraqi government to end its attacks.
The Iranian government helped broker the truce during high-level talks in Iran's holy city of Qom with Shiite Iraqi officials and senior supporters of Al Sadr, said a prominent Iraqi party official based in Tehran. "Iran played a mediating role and helped ease things a lot," said the Iraqi official, also speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Given its influence over Al Sadr, Iran convinced the Sadrists to stop fighting," he said.
The Iraqi government sent a three-member delegation that was headed by a prominent Shiite lawmaker close to Al Maliki, Ali Adeeb, and also included two of his Shiite colleagues, Hadi Al Amari and Qasem Sahlani, said the Iraqi official based in Tehran.
The meetings in Qom also included representatives from Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, he said.
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