The British Middle East Eye website published an article by the former Italian ambassador to Iraq, Marco Carnelos, in which he believes that the leader of the Sadrist bloc in Iraq, Muqtada al-Sadr, who won the parliamentary elections, seeks to advance his country. in an attempt to liberate the country from Iranian interference and heal the sectarian rift.

The Italian diplomat, who previously served as coordinator of the peace process in the Middle East and special envoy of the Italian government in Syria, indicated that the Sadrist bloc became the most important political force after it won 73 seats (out of 329 seats) in the legislative elections that Iraq witnessed on the tenth of October. October, thus having the final say in choosing the next Iraqi prime minister.

He also pointed out that the biggest surprise in the Iraqi legislative elections was the sharp decline of the pro-Iranian Al-Fateh bloc led by Hadi Al-Amiri, whose seats in parliament did not exceed 17 seats, compared to 47 seats in the 2018 elections.

He said that the allegations and protests of the pro-Iranian parties of fraud in the elections were not surprising, but he ruled out that the recounting of votes now underway would significantly change the results of the elections. The vote was tantamount to refusing or reprimanding them.

He suggested that the formation of a new Iraqi government would require several months and that it would not reflect the popular will that was expressed in the legislative elections.

He warned that the political vacuum creates a state of instability, and this was demonstrated by the attack on the residence of Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi by drones earlier this month.

huge popularity

In his article, the Italian diplomat mentioned the popularity of al-Sadr, pointing out that the inherited leadership in the al-Sadr family and his armed resistance against the American occupation of Iraq between 2003 and 2008 had strengthened his political position and gave him the ability to mobilize millions of his supporters and bring them to the streets of Baghdad in the blink of an eye.

According to his supporters, the writer says, al-Sadr has the ability to paralyze Baghdad if he so desires, and that is a card that few Iraqi politicians have.

Given his growing power after the recent elections, it is time to ask what al-Sadr actually thinks and how he assesses Iraq's political future.

The writer believes that al-Sadr - like his predecessors - rejects the permanent presence of US forces as an occupying force or as a fighting force in Iraq.

Nevertheless, he is open to the US military presence in Mesopotamia for the purposes of training and logistical support for the Iraqi army, which he admits is excessively dependent on US military equipment.

The former diplomat also believes that Sadr's relationship with Iran is old, complex, and difficult to understand for outside observers.

Al-Sadr spends a long time in Iran when he feels threatened in Iraq, and he realizes that the relations between the two countries are now unbreakable, but despite that he opposes the pro-Iranian militias operating inside Iraq, as well as Tehran’s interference in what he considers his country’s internal affairs, according to Writer.

When Al-Sadr was asked whether Iraq should join the "Abraham/Abraham agreements" and normalize relations with Israel, as some Arab countries did, Al-Sadr responded with a categorical rejection.

The former Italian diplomat concluded that al-Sadr aimed to create a national agenda and liberate Iraq from the policies of other regional and non-regional powers, which for two decades have been settling their accounts on Iraqi lands, giving priority to the country’s reconstruction and rejecting any outside interference in his country’s affairs.