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)
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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.



UN Chief Urges Iran to Give up Nuclear Arms, Warns against Israeli Annexation of West Bank

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses the audience during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 22, 2025. (AFP)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses the audience during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 22, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Chief Urges Iran to Give up Nuclear Arms, Warns against Israeli Annexation of West Bank

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses the audience during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 22, 2025. (AFP)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses the audience during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 22, 2025. (AFP)

Iran must make a first step towards improving relations with countries in the region and the United States by making it clear it does not aim to develop nuclear weapons, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday.

He also said he hoped all parties in Gaza would realize they would benefit from a permanent truce that could open the path to negotiations over a two-state solution and urged countries to ease sanctions on Syria.

"The most relevant question is Iran and relations between Iran, Israel and the United States," Guterres said as he discussed the situation in the Middle East at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"Here my hope is that the Iranians understand that it is important to once and for all make it clear that they will renounce to have nuclear weapons, at the same time that they engage constructively with the other countries of the region."

The UN nuclear watchdog chief, Rafael Grossi, touched on the same theme in Davos, saying Iran is "pressing the gas pedal" on its enrichment of uranium to near weapons grade.

Iran has always said its program is entirely peaceful and it has the right to enrich uranium to any level it wants.

Reflecting on the situation in Gaza, Guterres said the ceasefire there had so far been successful in allowing in aid to the enclave, but had a warning over any further future action.

"There is a possibility of Israel feeling emboldened by the military successes to think that this is the moment to do the annexation of the West Bank and to keep Gaza in a kind of a limbo situation," he said.

"That would be a total violation of international law ... and would mean there will never be peace in the Middle East."

SYRIA SANCTIONS

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not articulated a vision for Gaza's postwar future beyond insisting the Islamist group Hamas can play no role and stating that the Palestinian Authority – which partially administers the occupied West Bank - also cannot be trusted under its current leadership.

Israeli security forces raided the volatile West Bank city of Jenin on Tuesday in what Netanyahu called a "large-scale and significant military operation". Hamas called on Palestinians in the territory to escalate fighting against Israel.

The UN chief said he was more optimistic about Lebanon, where he believed the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel was holding.

Guterres called on countries to ease their sanctions on Syria, to help the country transform after the ousting of Bashar al-Assad, while saying the new government still has to prove it will represent all minorities.

"We still have a strong risk of fragmentation and of extremism in at least parts of the Syrian territory," he said.

"It is in the interest of us all to engage to make things move in the direction of an inclusive form of governance and I think some gesture must be made in relation to the sanctions."