Prominent Shiite Cleric Calls For Radical Change To Iraq’s Political System

According to reports, the skirmish is still ongoing in the Shaghalak village in Doust Mohammad Rural District in central Hirmand in Sistan and Baluchestan province. It is not clear what prompted the incident.

Confirming the reports, Meysam Barazandeh, the governor of the border town said that there is no immediate estimate of the number of casualties. 

Unconfirmed reports in social media say at least 10 people were killed during the firefight. Some social media users say most of the casualties are members of the Baluchi ethnicity, a minority people living in Iran’s south-east bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Late in June, at least one Iranian soldier was killed during clashes in the same area. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Naser Kanaani identified the victim as Mohammad Sayyad, saying that he died in line of duty by unknown gunmen at the Milak border crossing and urged the Taliban to punish those behind the incident.

In April, the border crossing Dogharoon was temporarily shut down following a “dispute” between Iranian and Afghan border guards.

There have been some incidents at the border since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan last year. An Iranian foreign ministry official in January said that the reason for clashes between Iranian forces and the Taliban was lack of professional conduct by the latter.

Gantz said in a tweet that he talked with Secretary of State Antony Blinken about the need for continued pressure on Iran as well as negotiations for a nuclear agreement.

Earlier in the day, Iran's foreign minister reiterated his country’s resolve to clinch an agreement for the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remark in a late Saturday phone call with his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

During the call, the two foreign ministers discussed the latest developments in their countries’ relations in various political, economic and consular sectors, including cooperation for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The top Iranian diplomat added that the US constantly claims it is in favor of an agreement, but that claim "should manifest itself [both] in the text of the agreement and in action."

On the same day, Amir-Abdollahian had phone calls with his counterparts from Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, and Iraq, saying Tehran is serious about reaching a durable and strong agreement on the revival of the JCPOA.

In a statement, the ministry said the Swedish national, whose identity remains unknown, had contact with "European and non-European suspects" in Iran.

It claimed that the detained Swede had made several trips to Iran and visited different cities which are not typical tourist destinations.

The ministry alleged that in all his/her trips, the arrested person had communicated with "European and non-European suspects who were under surveillance in Iran" and observed all “professional principles of communication, protection and concealment". It said the Swedish person had also travelled to Israel before visiting Iran.

The arrest was announced as Iran has “strongly condemned” a Swedish court’s sentencing of former Iranian jailor Hamid Nouri to life imprisonment over executions of political prisoners in 1988.

Late in June, the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs advised its citizens against traveling to the Islamic Republic due to security risks to foreigners.

Tehran is already holding hostage Iranian-Swedish academic Ahmadreza Djalali, who is on death row.

Iran has been accused of wrongfully detaining foreign and dual nationals on trumped up charges, effectively as hostages to extract concessions from Western governments.

The protesters, mostly followers of influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr who seeks to curb the influence of the Islamic Republic in Iraqi politics, gathered at the end of a bridge leading to Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone district – which houses government buildings and foreign embassies and mounted onto concrete barriers. According to Iran International’s correspondent Truska Sadeghi, they are heading for the Iraqi judiciary building.

Brandishing Iraqi flags and portraits of Sadr, the protesters chanted "All the people are with you Sayyed Moqtada," referring to Sadr with his title as a descendant of prophet Muhammad.

Calling for a consensus government and reforms, they demand ending foreign interference, particularly by the Islamic Republic, handing over corrupt officials to the law, and dissolving the parliament and the Coordination Framework, a coalition of Shiite parties close to Tehran.

Stressing the need for an independent government in Baghdad, they emphasize that they do not want an Iranian-linked government or a subordinate one. Protesters say they are not just the followers of Sadr; “we are all of Iraq,” they say.

Friday night, Sadr’s supporters shut down several offices of Iran-backed Hizb-ul-Dawa (The Islamic Dawa Party) and the Iraqi National Committee.

A senior Shiite scholar said on state TV that, “We will not let Iran’s Revolutionary Guard manage our country, we will cut off Iran's hand.”

According to unconfirmed reports, at least one protester is dead and several more are injured during the clashes with security forces.

There are also reports that Iran-backed Hashd al-Shaabi forces, also known as Popular Mobilization Forces, are on high alert.

Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi has also called on protesters to show restraint to protect the safety and lives of the demonstrators.

In a show of strength on Wednesday, July 27, protesting Iraqis forced their way into the parliament, walked on tables, waved Iraqi flags, sat in lawmakers' chairs, and chanted anti-Iran slogans to protest a Tehran-backed prime ministerial nominee. On Monday, July 25, the Coordination Framework nominated Mohammed al-Sudani as the prime minister, a decision opposed by Sadr.

The mass gathering was considered a show of force by the firebrand cleric whose party won the highest number of seats in the October 2021 national elections but withdrew after failing to form a government with Sunni and Kurdish allies in Iraq's hectic power-sharing system free of Iran-backed parties that have dominated many state institutions for years.

It was the largest protest since the federal elections and the second time al-Sadr has used his ability to mobilize the masses to send a message to his political rivals this month,and renewed his call to dismantle outlaw armed factions, referring to the Iran-backed Shiite militia Hashd al-Shaabi, which was led by former Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis before he was killed alongside Qasem Soleimani in January 2020 by a US drone strike.

During their hour-long phone call he two presidents underscored the importance of strategic relations between Tehran and Beijing but nothing truly new was reported in the readouts of the talk. The Chinese president had a call with US President Joe Biden the day before.

According to the Iranian readout of the call, Raisi reiterated that reviving the 2015 agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) depends on a "political decision" by Washington as it was the US that left the agreement and imposed sanctions on Tehran. There was no mention of the nuclear deal in the Chinese readout of the phone conversation. 

Somehow similar to Xi’s call with Biden, in which the “one China” policy was among the main topics, the issue of Taiwan also came up in his call with the Iranian president. 

"Support for the One China policy is a definite and principled policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Raisi said, criticizing the US interference in the internal affairs of countries. 

Raisi told Xi that Tehran is resolved to expand relations with Beijing in all fields regardless of international developments, especially in providing maritime security and transfer of energy.

The two also talked about the implementation of the 25-year strategic partnership agreement between Tehran and Beijing as well as regional and extra-regional arrangements such as the group of the world’s emerging economies, known as BRICS, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.