BAGHDAD: Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi announced on Sunday his candidacy for the May 12 parliamentary elections to choose a prime minister.
Abadi, a Shiite Muslim who led the country in the four-year war against Daesh, said he will seek to form a cross-sectarian block called “the victory alliance” to contest the parliamentary elections, with candidates from other communities.
Abadi took over the premiership in 2014 from Nuri Al-Maliki, a close ally of Iran widely criticized by Iraqi politicians for the army’s collapse as Daesh militants swept through a third of Iraq.
Maliki, who heads the Shiite Dawa party, announced on Saturday he will be running in the elections.
Abadi is a Dawa member but he didn’t secure Maliki’s endorsement for his candidacy. Al-Maliki said on Saturday Dawa supporters will be free to choose between his alliance, called “state of law,” and Abadi’s “victory alliance.”
Abadi is credited for quickly rebuilding the army and defeating Daesh in its main Iraqi stronghold, Mosul, last July, with strong assistance from a US-led coalition.
Maliki holds the ceremonial title of vice president. He remains a powerful political figure as head of the Dawa and the largest political block in the current parliament.
The prime minister’s office is reserved for Iraq’s majority Shiite Arab community under a power-sharing system set up after the 2003 U.S-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Arab.
The largely ceremonial office of president is reserved for a Kurdish member of parliament. The speaker of parliament is drawn from Sunni Arab MPs.
The parliament is yet to approve the May 12 date for the elections.
Iraqi PM Abadi to seek re-election in May vote
Iraqi PM Abadi to seek re-election in May vote
US military operations ‘ahead of schedule,’ Iranian leaders want to talk: Trump
- Trump also said Sunday that 48 Iranian leaders have been killed in the US-Israeli bombardments
- Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said a leadership council had temporarily assumed duties
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Iran’s new leadership wants to talk to him and that he has agreed, according to an interview with the Atlantic magazine.
“They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them. They should have done it sooner. They should have given what was very practical and easy to do sooner. They waited too long,” Trump said in the interview from his Florida residence. Trump did not specify who he would be speaking with or say whether it would occur on Sunday or Monday.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said a leadership council composed of himself, the judiciary head and a member of the powerful Guardians Council had temporarily assumed the duties of supreme leader following the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump said some of the people who were involved in recent talks with the US are no longer alive.
“Most of those people are gone. Some of the people we were dealing with are gone, because that was a big — that was a big hit,” he was quoted as saying in the interview with Atlantic staff writer Michael Scherer. “They should have done it sooner, Michael. They could have made a deal. They should’ve done it sooner. They played too cute.”
Offensive moving ‘ahead of schedule’
Trump also said Sunday that 48 Iranian leaders have been killed in the US-Israeli bombardments of the country and that the offensive is “very positive.”
“Nobody can believe the success we’re having, 48 leaders are gone in one shot. And it’s moving along rapidly,” Trump was quoted as saying in an interview by Fox News.
Trump claimed overall success in the war, which was launched Saturday with the goal of removing Iran’s leadership and destroying its military. Iran has confirmed the death of its supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.
“We’re doing our job not just for us but for the world. And everything is ahead of schedule,” Trump was quoted as saying in a separate interview with CNBC.
“Things are evolving in a very positive way right now, a very positive way,” he said.
The interviews were conducted before the US military for the first time announced casualties in the war: three unidentified service members killed, five seriously wounded and several others more lightly injured.
Central Command (CENTCOM) also announced that the US had sunk an Iranian warship at a dock in the Gulf of Oman.
