Rouhani meets Iraq’s top cleric

NAJAF, Iraq: Iran´s President Hassan Rouhani met Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in Iraq´s Najaf on Wednesday, an AFP photographer reported, in the first encounter between an Iranian president and the country´s chief Shiite cleric.

Sistani famously called Iraqis to arms against the Islamic State group in 2014, giving rise to the Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitary alliance, which includes Iran-backed Shiite groups. Those forces have since been placed under the command of regular Iraqi forces and several former fighters are now members of the Iraqi parliament. Sistani rejects foreign influence in Iraq.

Iran and Iraq fought a devastating eight-year war in the 1980s, but their relations shifted drastically with the American-led overthrow of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003. Iran, which like its neighbour has a mainly Shiite population, is now one of oil-rich Iraq´s main trading partners and has close ties to many of its political actors. Iraq is walking a fine line to maintain good relations with Iran and its other key ally, the United States, an arch-foe of Iran.