Posted on 04/28/2012 9:34:17 PM PDT by Olog-hai
A PUBLIC relations stumble between Tehran and Baghdad has intensified speculation that one of Iran’s most senior clerics is about to extend his power—and Iran’s theocratic system—into Iraq.
On his return from a visit to Tehran, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s office released statements on his meetings with several senior Iranian officials—but it was silent on Mr. Maliki’s encounter with 63-year-old Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi.
Despite a Baghdad blackout on what is understood to have been their third meeting in recent months, Iran’s government-run news agency IRNA released a photograph of Mr. Maliki and Ayatollah Shahroudi—who is Iraqi by birth—greeting each other warmly.
An accompanying report on the visit barely mentions Mr. Maliki, but quotes Ayatollah Shahroudi urging Baghdad to support the “Islamic Awakening” currently under way in the Middle East.
Ayatollah Shahroudi, a powerful member of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s inner circle, is positioning himself to become the next spiritual leader of Iraq’s Shiite Muslim majority, a move observers say would be impossible without Tehran’s blessing and funding. …
(Excerpt) Read more at greaterdandenongweekly.com.au ...
Ping.
Maybe I am just tired, but there did not seem to be any picture that the title alludes to.
There wasn’t.
Thanks Olog-hai.
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