Iraq's Shiite clerics are also playing an increasingly prominent role in Iraqi politics, as both Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and Moqtada al Sadr have been pressuring Baghdad over corruption, Reuters reports. The two leaders have different styles, with Sadr as more brash, populist, and willing to send devotees into the streets and Sistani exercising a more reserved moral authority. But both have displayed independence from neighboring Iran. Sistani has been mum since a February address in which the cleric pledged to focus more on religious matters, but Sadr has vowed to challenge Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi with a no confidence vote in parliament unless a series of anti-corruption reforms are implemented.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is still under pressure from supporters of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to implement anti-corruption reforms and form a cabinet of non-partisan technocrats; Sadr is reportedly coordinating his political position with Iraq’s senior Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.