Despite joining a coalition with other Shiite political parties (INA), the Sadrists are trying to distance themselves from Al-Hakim’s supreme Council.
In his last official statement
The statement goes further to this very interesting part:
There is no political bloc that will supports you to achieve your demands or rights … If you join them (other parties), then be with them but not part of them …. “politics have no heart”.
At the same time, the Sadrist spokesman Salah Al-Obeidi said that the Iranian occupation of the Fakka oil well is unacceptable, and that all data and evidence confirms that the oil belongs to Iraq.
Al-Obeidi even criticized Iran:
Iran didn’t respect Iraq’s sovereignty … There are the international diplomatic channels to issue its complaints, but Iran didn’t use these ways.
Al-Sadr timed these new positions, while the Supreme Council is totally silent about the Iranian invasion of the Fakka oilfield (or tried to play down the Iranian invasion), despite the demonstration of the thousands of Shiites in Ashura rituals in Kerbala against the Iranian occupation.
Coalition and not an alliance
As a result of the differences arose between the Sadrists and Maliki, the Sadrists have been forced to enter the coming elections in coalition with one of the most prominent opponents, the Supreme Council led by Ammar al-Hakim (INA).
INA also includes the National Reform Movement, led by former prime minister and close Sadrists associate Ibrahim al-Jaafari.
What is hidden between Al-Sadr lines and according to the Shiites political coalition scene: Moqtada Al-Sadr’s call to his followers to vote for one “direction” means to vote for Al-Jaafari, hoping to set him again as the next prime minister challenging the Supreme Council’s candidate Adel Abdul-Mahdi, which means that the differences within the INA members has started now, and this would be in Maliki’s interest.