Iraq’s Sistani Calls for Fresh Faces to Run for Premiership

Iraq’s supreme religious authority Ali al-Sistani calls for fresh faces to run for prime minister. (AFP)
Iraq’s supreme religious authority Ali al-Sistani calls for fresh faces to run for prime minister. (AFP)
TT
20

Iraq’s Sistani Calls for Fresh Faces to Run for Premiership

Iraq’s supreme religious authority Ali al-Sistani calls for fresh faces to run for prime minister. (AFP)
Iraq’s supreme religious authority Ali al-Sistani calls for fresh faces to run for prime minister. (AFP)

As the deadline looms for the Iraqi parliamentary blocs to submit their candidate for the position of prime minister, supreme Shiite authority in al-Najaf, Ali al-Sistani, implied that he supports the nomination of fresh faces for the post.

Media affiliated to Sistani denied lawmaker claims that he had named a number of candidates for the position. The nomination is within the jurisdiction of the largest parliamentary bloc.

They added that he had not vetoed any potential candidate, but he will oppose a candidate who is from the political class that has run the country during the past few years because the people have lost their faith in them.

On Monday, MP Sabah al-Saaedi, of the Sairoun alliance of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, revealed that he had received information that Sistani had vetoed the nomination of five candidates. They are former PM Nouri al-Maliki, current PM Haidar al-Abadi, Hadi al-Ameri, Faleh al-Fayyad and Tareq Najm.

Commenting on the Sistani’s stance, Shiite cleric Farhan al-Saaedi told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The supreme religious authority has long left it up to the people to decide their fate.”

“Abadi’s term witnessed successes on the ground, which is important for the people. The people also, however, demand basic services, such as water and electricity. They will grow frustrated if their demands are not met, especially since there are no radical solutions for the crises,” he continued.

This is what the supreme religious authority wants to explain to the people: their choices determine their fate, he added.

Badr organization member Karim al-Nouri told Asharq Al-Awsat that based on Sistani’s criteria, the majority of politicians are not qualified for the position of prime minister.

Sistani had stipulated during one of his recent sermons that the candidate should be “firm, brave and strong,” he added.

“Based on these qualifications, then we believe that Hadi al-Ameri still has the greatest chance of becoming premier given his parliamentary work and his fight against ISIS for three years,” he added.

He also cited his success when he served as minister of transportation.



Syria Expects First Transfer with US Bank 'Within Weeks'

FILE PHOTO: A view of the Syrian central bank, after the ouster of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view of the Syrian central bank, after the ouster of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo
TT
20

Syria Expects First Transfer with US Bank 'Within Weeks'

FILE PHOTO: A view of the Syrian central bank, after the ouster of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view of the Syrian central bank, after the ouster of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo

Syria expects to have its first transaction with a US bank "in a matter of weeks", Syrian central bank governor Abdelkader Husriyeh said on Thursday, a day after a high-level meeting between Syrian and US commercial banks.

The resumption of transfers between Syrian and US banks would be a key milestone in the push by Syria’s new rulers to reintegrate the country into the global financial system after 14 years of civil war, Reuters reported.

Husriyeh on Wednesday held a virtual conference bringing together Syrian banks, several US banks and US officials, including Washington's Syria Envoy Thomas Barrack, with the aim of speeding up the reconnection of Syria's banking system to the global financial system.

This follows US President Donald Trump’s announcement in May that all sanctions on Syria would be lifted. That has been followed up with executive orders formally lifting some of the measures.

Syria's reintegration into the global financial system would be a major step towards enabling the kind of large financial transactions needed to kickstart its reconstruction and economic activity, and help rein in a highly informal, cash-based economy.

Husriyeh extended a formal invitation to US banks to re-establish correspondent banking ties following the ouster of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, whose crackdown on 2011 protests resulted in Western countries imposing one of the world’s strictest sanctions regimes.

"We have two clear targets: have US banks set up representative offices in Syria and have transactions resume between Syrian and American banks. I think the latter can happen in a matter of weeks," Husriyeh told Reuters.

Among the banks invited to Wednesday’s conference were JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and CitiBank, though it was not immediately clear who attended.