Iraq's al-Sadr joins forces with Iran-backed coalition

Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose coalition won the largest number of seats in last month's parliamentary elections, has announced an alliance with an Iran-backed coalition ahead of marathon negotiations to form a new government.

The move, announced by al-Sadr and Hadi al-Amiri of the Fatah coalition in the revered southern Shiite city of Najaf, came as a surprise as al-Sadr has been touting himself as a nationalist leader who opposes Iranian influence in Iraq.

The new alliance controls 101 seats, still far from the 165 required for a majority.

At a news conference yesterday, the two leaders said their alliance is aimed at expediting the formation of a new government and called on others to join them.

"We had a very positive meeting in order to end the suffering of the country and the people," al-Sadr said. "Our new alliance is a nationalist one and within the national frames."
Initial investigations, said al-Abadi, showed that Sunday's fire was deliberately lit by "criminals who seek to sabotage the political process from one side and to steal the voters' votes from another."