The Islamic Shi’a Prophecy

The fall of Soleimnai and the Mahdi Doctrine

By BRIAN SCHRAUGER

When he left Damascus for Baghdad late Thursday evening January 2, Qasem Soleimani was flying high. As the military leader, chief strategist and charismatic face of what he knew to be the world’s emerging and greatest empire, he had it all: prestige, power, presence. Not only did he command that rising empire’s independent military force, he was nothing less than the voice of Allah to leaders in nations soon to be absorbed: Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon; Yemen and the Sinai.

Although no one ever said so in quite these terms, he was, in fact, a rising prince of Persia.

And the arms at his disposal! In addition to an immeasurable arsenal of conventional weapons, there was a growing repository of guided missiles; a world-class brigade of ruthless cyber geeks; even submarines; and soon, very soon, nuclear warheads.

From the north and the south of the world’s most despicable usurper, if not so much to its east and to its west, Soleimani was slowly squeezing the Zionist entity, needling its psyche (and military focus) by jihadists within its pretentious boundaries, waiting for the perfect moment – when it was distracted – to strike at its heart from the north with a massive arsenal of at least 100,000 rockets. When the time came, rockets without sophisticated technology would draw the defensive shield of the Zionists’ interceptors. That shield would stop a lot of them, but not all. Not all.

Then, at just the right time, hi-tech guided missiles would be launched, programmed to hit key military sites and, best of all, high-density population centers. Maybe, just maybe, inshallah, one of those missiles would carry a nuclear warhead. As Zionists died in a mushroom cloud of agony, all hell would break out throughout the region, even the world. It would be a tragic upheaval but a necessary evil because then, as prophesied, the long awaited savior of the world would emerge from centuries of withdrawal. The Imam Mahdi would return, establishing a worldwide caliphate of perfect peace; Islamic peace, of course.

The fall of Soleimnai and the Mahdi Doctrine

By BRIAN SCHRAUGER

On the evening of the second day of what the West calls its New Year, Soleimani was fresh from meeting in Beirut, Lebanon, with one of his nation’s most important vassals, Hassan Nasrallah, the uncontested head of the pretentious “party of Allah,” Hezbollah. In that encounter, duly photographed, Soleimani had accepted, once again, the “General Secretary’s” obsequious hospitality. It was likely gratifying to the Islamic Republic’s major general of Tehran’s notably redundant Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC.

The flight from Damascus was only one hour and five minutes, but it had been delayed. The Middle East Eye reports that his flight landed at 12:32 a.m. Baghdad time. Anticipating a comfortable weekend inside Baghdad’s Green Zone, Soleimani was met by the head of the Iraqi paramilitary force, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, said to be “a longstanding ally and a close friend.”

Just over an hour later, less than two hours into the third day of January, Soleimani, Muhandis and their entourage left Baghdad International Airport in two vehicles, a Hyundai Starex minivan and a Toyota Avalon four-door sedan. As they reached the airport’s outer access road, both vehicles were almost evaporated by missiles fired by an American Reaper drone, a large remote controlled aircraft regarded by the US military as a “hunter killer.” Death was instantaneous for all inside both cars. Remains were so badly shredded, Soleimani’s death was confirmed by a still intact hand bearing his still intact silver ring embedded with a large oval carnelian stone.

To Western eyes, events in Iran in the aftermath of Soleimani’s execution tend to look like a low-budget circus with all its performances gone bad.

“Let’s put all of this together,” opines YouTube commentator David Wood. “On January 3, Major-General Soleimani was killed in a drone strike. On January 7, 56 Iranians were killed and more than 200 more were injured in a stampede at Soleimani’s funeral. On January 8, Iranian leaders responded to the killing of Soleimani with a missile attack on two Iraqi bases where US soldiers were housed, but… no one was killed. Also on January 8, the Iranian military shot down a Ukranian passenger plane as it took off from Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport, killing 176 people. On January 11, after three days of denying it had shot down the plane … Iran admitted it had shot down the passenger plane.

“So, in response to the US government killing one man, Iranians killed, by a stampede and surface-to-air missile attack, 138 Iranians and 94 others – none of them Americans.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m beginning to think that Iranians might not be the best at war. [Mimicking Iranian leaders,] ‘Ah! They [the US] killed a general. Let’s start trampling each other to death in the streets and shooting down random planes.’

“I’m making fun of them,” says Wood, “because if the Iranian establishment is this incompetent, there’s hope for the protesters who want to overthrow the establishment. The days of the ayatollahs may be numbered.”

Iranian leaders as toothless buffoons is a gratifying narrative, but it is also wrong. If anything, the Islamic Republic is more dangerous than ever.

As evidenced by Soleimani’s accomplishments in building a regional network of proxy terrorists, by the nation’s weapons-grade nuclear fuel technology, by hi-tech guided missile systems and a world-class cyber warfare unit, Iran retains all of these things, losing none of them with Soleimani’s death.

Wounded by Soleimani’s execution and US President Donald Trump’s economic sanctions, the threat Iran poses to the Middle East and the world is not lessened, it is magnified. Indeed, notes Israeli journalist and geopolitical analyst Jonathan Spyer, it “can be expected to do all in their power to preserve the regime by all possible means.”

Why? Three main reasons: the Mahdi and necessary upheaval; the Mahdi and Iran as the facilitator for his reappearance; the Mahdi and Tehran’s visceral hatred of Israel.

On the day Soleimani was killed, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, tweeted, “We congratulate Imam Mahdi [aj] and Soleimani’s pure soul and condole the Iranian nation on this great martyrdom.”

Who is Imam Mahdi and why was Khamenei congratulating him on the day of Soleimani’s death? In short, he is Islam’s messiah, the 12th of 12 Imams who are successors to Mohammed. Said to have been born in 879 CE, the Imam Mahdi is believed by Shi’a Muslims to still be alive, but hidden from mankind in “occultation” until a time of such upheaval on the earth that only his reappearance will rescue mankind and, in fact, usher in an age of global peace; Islamic peace, that is; a kind of peace in which all mankind is living in submission to the Allah of the Koran.

Crazy to Western ears, this messianic creed is the raison d’être for the Islamic Republic of Iran according to its founders and leaders. It is also the basis of Tehran’s foreign and military policies; and it is impossible to overemphasize the Iran regime’s visceral commitment to it. The Imam Mahdi is invoked in every public gathering, both civil and military; he is the singular inspiration for every policy, every tactic, every mission; indeed, he is nothing less than the regime’s reason for its existence and, as such, its singular and unwavering motivation for the future.

This reality does not bode well for those who see recent stumbles as indicative of an imminent fall of the mullahs in Tehran.

Khamenei’s official website is full of teachings about Imam Mahdi, including one that states the Supreme Leader’s conviction that his reappearance is very near. “Reappearance of Imam Mahdi [aj] is near, because minds are ready,” Khamenei writes. The “aj” in parenthesis is shorthand for, “May Allah hasten his appearance.”

“The mind of humankind is ready to understand, to learn, and to know, undoubtedly, that a lofty human will come to save them from the burden of oppression and tyranny,” Khamenei explains. “The Iranian nation, enjoys a great privilege today: the atmosphere of the country is an atmosphere of Imam Mahdi [aj],” he continues, adding that “many of our great scholars have personally met with this beloved [Imam] of hearts of the admirers during his occultation; many have made a pledge to him in person; many have heard from him some heartwarming words; many have been caressed by him and many others have received his kindness, care, and love.”

How is this unwrapped in terms of Iran’s foreign and military policies today?

Global upheaval is a prerequisite for the Mahdi’s reappearance. This means that inasmuch as Iran stirs up a global hornet’s nest, it advances the Mahdi’s return, a return that is imminent. The regime’s primary agenda is to strategically provoke the world to chaos; this is how it wins. Chaos brings the Mahdi who brings global peace. Call it “The Mahdi Doctrine.”

The Iranian regime believes it has created an “atmosphere” that embodies the spirit of the Mahdi. Its religious, military and civil leaders have had personal encounters with him. In essence, then, today’s Iran is the womb from which the Mahdi will be reborn. Accordingly, the regime will go to any lengths to preserve itself. Accordingly, we should expect internal rebellion to be ruthlessly squashed. Protesters, especially organizers, will disappear. All external and internal opposition to the regime will be demonized.

Israel must be destroyed. Tehran’s unrelenting objective is resurrection of the ancient Persian empire in the form of an Islamic caliphate. The primary impediment to that objective is Israel, the “Zionist Entity,” the very embodiment of evil in the world today. Notably, Khamenei’s Twitter feed is full of vitriol about Israel.

“The Zionist regime is the epitome of evil,” he tweeted on Valentine’s Day in 2016. It is a “racist, usurping, lying, vicious, apartheid regime,” he added on February 5, 2019.

What then must be done? “Once people in the West realize their problems stem from Zionist domination over governments, great social movements will give birth to a new world,” he explained on 2 March 2015. Accordingly, the “barbaric, wolflike and infanticidal regime of Israel which spares no crime but to be annihilated.”

Translation: When the world finishes the job that Hitler started, the Mahdi will come, bringing heaven on earth; Islamic heaven, that is.

Wounded by economic sanctions, embarrassed by internal protesters, Iran is more dangerous today than ever.

Why did Khamenei congratulate Imam Mahdi on the day of Soleimani’s death? Because the real Prince of Persia is undeterred. He is still coming, and Iran will do anything to pave his way.

Why do Western analysts ignore Iran’s apocalyptic vision?

(Shutterstock)
Opinion: Do Western analysts ignore Iran’s apocalyptic vision?
September 1, 2019
The Islamist Shia doctrine embraced by the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran heralds the arrival of a messianic figure whose apocalyptic appearance will be preceded by violence, chaos and warfare.
By Lela Gilbert
Most American pundits write that current threats of violence and warnings of war are Iran’s boastful way of defying the U.S, and not only regarding its harsh economic sanctions, which presently have a strangle-hold on their leaders and institutions. Iran is also attempting to disrupt international oil shipments in the Persian Gulf and beyond.
But there is, perhaps, a less obvious reason as well. The Islamist Shia doctrine, embraced by the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran, heralds the arrival of a messianic figure known as the Twelfth or Hidden Imam. His apocalyptic appearance will be preceded by violence, chaos and warfare.
Most observers and pundits have concluded that Iran’s escalating threats of violence and drumbeats of war represent their defiant response to U.S. economic sanctions, which seem to have a strangle-hold on Iranian leaders and institutions. Meanwhile, upticks in Iran’s military activities have been widely reported and continue to be analyzed by U.S. military leaders.
However, on Aug. 6, the invaluable MEMRI news site – which translates and broadcasts speeches, sermons or other pronouncements by sheikhs, imams and mullahs –  reported the words of senior Iranian Ayatollah Mohammad Mehdi Mirbagheri: “In order for the Hidden Imam to reappear, we must engage in widespread fighting with the West.”
By daybreak on Sunday morning, Aug. 25, virtually every Middle East news source was headlining the same story: An unprecedented direct attack by Israeli forces on an Iranian Quds Force base had taken place in Syria. The attack was preemptive, in advance of an assault by a number of Iranian “killer drones,” which Israeli military intelligence had detected.
For months, Middle East news sources have reported a mounting crescendo of hostility emanating from Iran, along with encroachment of its tentacle-like militias into several nearby countries – Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, tensions surrounding shipping routes in the Persian Gulf and the Straits of Hormuz have not abated for weeks.
Along with ever-increasing efforts to magnify their power and prowess, Iran’s ceaseless antagonism continues to be amplified by repeated chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”
Iran’s ambitions for regional supremacy are nothing new. Since the 1979 Iranian Revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the regime has proved itself a dangerous foe to any and all who do not embrace its radical ayatollahs’ views.
Its response has played out in international terrorism, state-funded violence by numerous proxies and horrendous human rights abuses.
In recent years, Iran’s thinly veiled efforts to develop a nuclear weapon, along with its accompanying ballistic missile delivery system, has elevated global concerns to an urgent level. In response, former U.S. President Barack Obama tried to slow down the nuke development process by negotiating the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), while handing over untold billions of U.S. dollars to assuage the mullahs’ antagonism.
The results of the 2016 U.S. presidential elections reflected considerable push-back against Obama’s strategy. Many Americans and Israelis viewed the JCPOA it as a flawed and unenforceable agreement.
In May 2018,  President Donald Trump pulled out of the JCPOA and subsequently slammed heavy financial sanctions on Iran’s leadership, military and oil exports. That September, the discovery by Israeli intelligence of a warehouse-sized cache of nuclear-related files inside Iran was revealed, which cast even deeper doubt on the veracity of the Iranian regime’s denials of nuclear ambitions.
The Hidden Imam
Some observers are aware of the deeply religious nature of Iran’s regime. However, in the U.S. and Western Europe, references to religious influences in international affairs are often disregarded.
But some declarations should not be overlooked. And that includes references – particularly among Iran’s highest levels of leadership – to the Hidden Imam.
The Hidden, or Twelfth Imam plays a dominant role in one specific form of Shi’ite Islamic theology, called “Twelverism” – which happens to be the primary belief system of Iran’s leadership.  There is a messianic belief that, at the end of days, the Hidden Imam will appear in the midst of a violent apocalyptic scenario, played out on a battleground stained with infidels’ blood.
About a month before Mirbagheri’s sermon, Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sayyed Nasrallah declared that while “life and death are in the hands of God, logic points to me praying in Al-Aqsa mosque.”
Bear in mind that while serving as Iran’s most influential religious and political emissary in Lebanon, Nasrallah has been living in a secret underground “bunker” ever since the 2006 Israel-Lebanon War.
Meanwhile, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s holy sites, is located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. And that has remained Judaism’s most holy site, where the Jewish Temple stood until 70 CE. Nasrallah’s prediction essentially meant that, at some point, Israel would no longer be able to prevent his emergence from his Lebanese hideout and entrance into the Holy City.
Just days after Nasrallah’s declaration, Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei affirmed that prediction:  “The return of this holy land [Israel] to the World of Islam is not a strange and unattainable matter.” He declared Nasrallah’s goal of praying at the Al-Aqsa Mosque “an absolutely practical and achievable aspiration for us.”
More recently, as I reflected on the intensifying tension between the West, Israel and Iran, I came across a blog post by Saeed Ghasseminejad, an Iranian scholar who is now in the West, serving as a fellow at Washington, D.C.’s highly respected Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).
In 2013, he penned an article titled “Iran’s Apocalyptic Policy Makers.”  He wrote:
Two of the most lunatic and apocalyptic high-ranking figures in Iran are Ayatollah Ali Khamenei himself and his now disgraced one-time protégé, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad… While many experts tell us Iran is a rational, pragmatic regime like any other in the world, all the facts shout that it is not.
“A large number of Iranian officials and decision makers have deeply rooted apocalyptic beliefs. Underestimating this radical ideology even as the Iranian regime is on its way to building a nuclear bomb can lead to dangerously wrong conclusions. The suggestion taking hold of late that a nuclear armed Iran is not the end of the world may unfortunately be dead wrong.
He also wrote, “To IRGC officers, Mahdi may be hidden, but he is far from absent. In a rare public appearance at Qum, Ghassem Soleimani, the notorious commander of the Quds force, said that during the Iran-Iraq war some IRGC commanders in war-fronts were in contact with the Hidden Imam.”
Apocalyptic thought ‘overlooked’
With all this in mind, I contacted Ghasseminejad to learn more about how these apocalyptic convictions may be affecting Iran’s current aggressions.
“This apocalyptic aspect of the Islamic regime in Tehran is usually overlooked by analysts in the West,” he explained, “probably because God is more or less dead among the elite in the West, and it is hard for them to imagine that apocalyptic religious thought can turn into actual policies pursued by the State.”
Clearly in much of the Middle East, however, belief in God is very much alive, and deeply held dogmas can influence decisions made by policymakers. As with Judaism and Christianity, the idea of a coming Messiah and apocalypse is a central Islamic belief.
“The key,” Ghasseminejad told me, “is that Khomeini belonged to a minority school of thought in the Twelver Shia community who believe that Ulama (clerics) should rule, and their rule would be legitimate because they were deputies of the hidden Imam and they were preparing the world for his reappearance of the hidden Imam.
“So what does that have to do,” I asked, “with Tehran’s extremely aggressive anti-Israel and anti-Saudi foreign policy?”
“I think it can be explained, at least partly, by the importance of Jerusalem in the apocalyptic Shia literature. And the same is true about Mecca, which is the place where the Hidden Imam will reappear.”
“To summarize,” Ghasseminejad concluded, “I think the Islamic Republic of Iran and its leadership’s apocalyptic vision can explain a good part of what Tehran is doing in the region. And ignoring it leads to misinterpretation of Tehran’s decisions.
“While I do not believe the apocalyptic ideology is the only force behind the regime’s decision-making process, I think it plays a significant role in how the Supreme Leader and the IRGC see the world.”
Lela Gilbert is an award-winning writer who has authored or co-authored more than 60 books. She lived in Israel for ten years, is a fellow at Hudson Institute and also writes for Jerusalem Post, Fox News, World Israel News and various other publications. This article was first published by Religion Unplugged.

Sanction Easing Leaves Ayatollah In Control (Daniel 8:3)

Middle East Countries Wary Of Iran Sanctions Easing, Not Possible Nuclear Weapons

Khamenei’s Iron Fist

By  Erin Banco @ErinBanco e.banco@ibtimes.com on February 26 2015 3:56 PM EST

 

ISTANBUL — While the U.S. and Israel focus on the implications of Iran developing its nuclear program, some of Iran’s regional adversaries are concerned about something else: the power that Iran’s economy, unshackled from sanctions by a nuclear deal with the international community, would exert in the Middle East. As negotiations in Geneva inch toward a possible deal in which Iran would freeze its nuclear energy program in exchange for a lifting of sanctions, Iran’s neighbors look worriedly at a huge nation that’s been isolated from world trade for decades and whose re-entry in it may tip the balance of economic power in the Middle East. 

 

With a population of more than 78 million, Iran is the Mideast’s second-largest nation after Egypt and already the second-biggest economy after Saudi Arabia. With almost two Iranians out of three under the age of 30, many of them with higher degrees, the young, well-educated nation could soon turn into an economic powerhouse.

And for countries such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Jordan, an Iran released from its current economic restrictions and able to trade freely is a threat, in sectors from mining to the automotive industry. For the governments of those Sunni-dominated nations, those economic concerns also compound ongoing concerns over the growing political influence of Shiite Iran in places such as Iraq and Syria. 

Iran has grown into its current size as an economy even under an international isolation that began in 1979, when an Islamist revolution overthrew the pro-Western regime of the Shah and the occupation of the U.S. embassy in Tehran led to the end of relationships with the U.S. Washington and the European Union took an even harsher stance in 2012, when increased sanctions imposed as Iran went forward with its nuclear program helped cause a two-year recession.

U.S. companies are prohibited from trading with Iran, and doing so remains nearly impossible  for non-U.S. companies. Any foreign company not owned by a U.S. individual that trades with Iran runs the risk of being blacklisted by the U.S. and excluded from its market.

But that could change if the U.S. and Iran reach an agreement. Recent reports have indicated that U.S. officials are considering putting forward a plan that would restrict Tehran’s nuclear capabilities for 10 years in exchange for the easing of some economic sanctions. Analysts and lawyers specializing in sanctions said one of the first parts of the sanction structure to be lifted or eased would be the extraterritorial factor, which allows the U.S. government to punish third-party entities that deal with Iran.

If that happens, Iran would be able to import much-needed Western technology to help modernize the oil and gas sector that dominates its economy — and use that as leverage to drive an economic renaissance.

Right now, Iran is far behind other Middle Eastern countries in the oil and gas trade. The latest figures released by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries show that Iran produced 2.75 million barrels a day in January, 25,000 fewer per day than in December. Saudi Arabia produced by comparison almost 9.7 million barrels a day.

If Iran comes back in full onto the world oil market, an immediate effect is that Saudi Arabia’s industrial ambitions may suffer. Mohamad Aly Ramady, an economist based in Riyadh, said Saudi Arabia is using its revenue from oil and minerals extraction to help jump-start an emerging auto sector. Over the past two years, Saudi Arabia has worked with Indian-owned companies to begin car production in the city of Yanbu, but if Iran were able to export cars, it would hinder potential future sales of Saudi vehicles in the Middle East.

Iran has ranked for years in the top 15 largest car-producing nations, making 1.6 million vehicles in 2011, more than Great Britain and more than double Italy. Renewed sanctions then hit the nation over its nuclear energy program, and the ensuing economic slump slowed car production to just 740,000 in 2013. But Iran has shown it has the ability to make more cars than established industrial powerhouses, and if sanctions were eased it could sell them throughout the Middle East. That could help sink Saudi Arabia’s attempt to diversify away from a largely oil-based economy, after the kingdom has invested more than $50 billion in turning Yanbu into an industrial center.

For Jordan, the fear lies more in how a resurgent Iranian economy could translate into more regional clout.

Iran has for years intervened in volatile situations throughout the Middle East, giving cash and weapons to Shiite groups in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria. In the latter, Iran initially propped up President Bashar al-Assad, but its intervention has turned into a fight to stop Sunni militias, including the Islamic State group, or ISIS. The humanitarian crisis created by the regime’s crackdown with Iranian support has pushed  hundreds of thousands of Syrians to flee to Jordan, which is burdening the fragile Jordanian economy.

Like Jordan, Turkey also has a major stake in the wars in Iraq and Syria, and has taken in millions of Syrian refugees since the Syrian civil war began in 2011. But the government is more worried about the possibility of Iran being able again to conduct financial transactions directly, which would cut Turkish banks out of the profitable role of intermediary.

Before the U.S. and EU implemented the latest round of sanctions, Turkey’s Halkbank, 75 percent owned by the government, was one of the main hubs for handling Iranian transactions. The few countries that still imported Iranian oil, unable to pay Iran directly, turned to Halkbank to make payments. The Turkish bank is holding on to the cash until it can pay Iranian oil sellers, and lawyers said it is profiting handsomely from millions of dollars in  interest. (The central bank’s main interest rate in Turkey is now at a relatively very high 10.75 percent.)

A deal with Iran that could end that bonanza for Turkey. But sanctions could remain in place, depending on the outcome of the nuclear talks.

The opposers of any agreement with Iran include many Republicans in Washington and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will hold a speech before the U.S. Congress next week — at the Republicans’ invitation, not approved by the White House — in which he is expected to publicly criticize the White House’s efforts to broker a deal. Netanyahu has said before that a deal is going to result in Iran developing a nuclear weapon, which Israel would never allow.

“There is a minority in Washington that just does not believe any deal with Iran can be had,” said Alex Vatanka, an expert on Iran at the Middle East Institute, a think tank based in Washington. “The problem with this view is that they have not been able to put forth a credible counterstrategy short of military confrontation.”

Antichrist Is Back In Iran

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Prominent Iraqi figure Muqtada al-Sadr is in Iran to continue his seminary education.
The office of the Iraqi cleric has issued a statement on Saturday saying that Sadr has traveled to Iran to continue his seminary education in the holy city of Qom, Al-Alam news network reported.
Meantime, Al-Dustour news website, too, has quoted an official with the cleric’s office as saying that Muqtada al-Sadr has resigned from politics as he had told the Iraqi nation and is planning to study in Qom, Iran.
Earlier this month, al-Sadr, who enjoys great popularity in the central and southern parts of Iraq, announced a complete withdrawal from Iraqi politics.
In a letter posted on his website, al-Sadr stated he would not hold any political office and that no bloc would represent him in the Iraqi parliament.
The letter also stated that Sadr would be closing all his offices.
Despite not holding any official position in the Iraqi government, Sadr holds significant influence in the Iraqi politics.
He was the creator of the Mehdi Army, a paramilitary group that was involved in the Iraq War and clashed with US forces on many occasions.
The Mehdi Army was disbanded under government pressure in 2008, following a clash with Iraqi Army forces controlled by Prime Minister Nour al-Maliki.
Sadr is also a head of a political party named after him, which forms part of the National Iraqi Alliance coalition in the Iraqi parliament.
Sadr has been a very vocal critic of the continued US presence in Iraq after the toppling of Saddam Hussein.

Imam Makes Way For Antichrist

Ayatollah Sistani: Assad and Maliki must go

Both Iraq and Syria's leaders should be removed immediately to avoid a devastating Shi'ite-Sunni sectarian split, says Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, the Gulf Daily News reported.
According to the report, the Shi'ite spiritual leader has voiced his objection to Syrian President Bashar Al Assad staying in power after more than two-and-a-half years of violence. He also feels that Iraq needs a new prime minister - acceptable to all components of its society - for the government to be able to safeguard the country's interest and unity.
Ayatollah Sistani's remarks came during a meeting with visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in the holy city of Najaf in southern Iraq, said a cleric from the movement of Shi'ite strongman Moqtada Al Sadr. The minister also later met Al Sadr.
The cleric pointed out that Ayatollah Sistani's stance may lead to confrontations with Iran's spiritual leader Ali Khamenei, who backs both Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki and Assad, according to Kuwaiti newspaper Al Siyassa.
Davutoglu, the most senior Turkish official to visit Iraq since the end of 2011 when bilateral relations deteriorated following Turkish approval to keep Iraqi former vice-president Tariq Al Hashimi on its soil, described Ayatollah Sistani as the "safety valve" of Iraq. He also called him a "global peace man" who stands against sectarian sedition in Iraq and the region.
The Al Sadr aide pointed out that Tehran supports a third term for Al Maliki and is closely monitoring the Turkish-Iraqi rapprochement. It is thought that Turkey's extending its hand to Iraqi Shi'ites might help lead to its playing a significant role in soothing sectarian crises in the region and garner Ankara the role of mediator, as it already has good relations with Sunni parties in Iraq. The talks to end sectarian rifts came as a bomber wearing a police uniform detonated an explosives belt in a crowd of pilgrims in the eastern Iraqi city of Al Sadiya, killing 35.