JEDDAH: The Iran-backed Hashd Al-Shaabi militia must be kept out of business and politics in Iraq, the country’s most powerful Shiite cleric warned on Friday.
In a speech delivered to hundreds of thousands of worshippers at a Friday prayer rally in Baghdad, Moqtada Al-Sadr targeted factions that he said had blocked the creation of a government since elections last October.
“We are at a difficult crossroads in the formation of the government, entrusted to some we do not trust,” Al-Sadr said. The Hashd “must be reorganized and undisciplined elements must be removed,” the cleric said.
He complained about “foreign interventions” without specifically naming Iran, and said the Hashd must be “kept at a distance from politics and business.”
Sadr’s bloc won 73 seats in the election, making it the largest in parliament, but talks to form a government have stalled and Iraq remains mired in a political and economic crisis.
Sadr initially supported the idea of a “majority government” but then surprised many by ordering his deputies to resign in June.
Analyst Hamzeh Hadad said the aim of Friday’s rally was to demonstrate that while Sadr’s bloc had resigned from parliament, “it does not mean that he is no longer relevant politically.”
Hadad said: “He was flexing his muscles and showing the influence he still has on the street.”
