Salih al-Igaili, a lawmaker from the Sadrist parliamentary bloc, denied on Tuesday that former Premier Iyad Allawi is mediating to put an end to U.S. military operations in Sadr city, and to resolve this city's crisis, asserting that the Sadr movement considers negotiations with the Americans as a “red line.”"I totally deny this news," al-Igaili told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI). "The Sadr movement never negotiates with the U.S. forces" he continued.
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Allawi added that negotiations are underway with the U.S. forces to solve this problem, between those forces and the Sadr movement, but he did not mention any further details.
Al-Igaili commented, "If he really wants to solve the crisis, Dr. Allawi was expected to submit a peace initiative that satisfies the disputing sides, rather than using the media to make false statements."
"The Sadr movement believes that the purpose of reporting this news is an attempt to learn Sadr movement's position regarding the folder of negotiations with the Americans," he explained
"We say that the movement totally rejects any negotiations with the Americans, and we consider this a red line that should not be crossed," al-Igaili asserted.
"We did not contact anyone, and we did not ask anyone to mediate with the Americans or the government," he added.