Moqtada Tateral-Sadr
... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah...
, said Tuesday that al-Sadr "rejected" anti-Iran slogans that were reportedly chanted by his followers during their temporary occupation of parliament last weekend.
"Slogans chanted against Iran after the Green Zone was stormed are rejected by al-Sadr himself, by the Al-Ahrar bloc and by the Sadrist masses," bloc head Diaa al-Asadi said in a statement.
In regard to reports that al-Sadr had recently visited Iran, al-Asadi asserted: "If these reports are correct -- I have no information about it -- I don’t know why the visit has caused such a fuss".
"Al-Sadr has relatives in Beirut and Iran who he visits occasionally, not to mention the political, social and religious contacts he has in many countries," al-Asadi added. "What’s the problem?"
On Saturday, thousands of al-Sadr’s supporters forced their way into Baghdad’s heavily-fortified Green Zone and occupied the Iraqi parliament building before withdrawing the following day.
In recent months, al-Sadr supporters have staged several mass demonstrations in Baghdad with a view to pressing Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi to appoint a government of "technocrats" untainted by corruption or sectarian affiliations.