BAGHDAD, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Iraq's prominent Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Tuesday received Esmail Qaani, commander of the Iranian Quds Force, in Iraqi Shiite holy city of Najaf south of the capital Baghdad.
After the meeting with Qaani, Al-Sadr reiterated on Twitter his commitment to forming a national majority government.
"Neither Eastern nor Western, only a national majority government," he tweeted, referring to the formation of a new government that is not linked to Eastern influence or Western influence.
During the past two days, Qaani held meetings with the Iraqi Coordination Framework, an umbrella group of Shiite parties rejecting the election's results, to resolve the political deadlock resulting from al-Sadr's insistence on forming a national majority government, a political source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The source also said that Qaani paid a visit to Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, and met with Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani.
Qaani is also expected to meet with some Sunni political leaders to discuss the Iraqi political deadlock, the source added.
Al-Sadr pledged to form a national majority government from the winning parties in the elections, after his followers took the lead with 73 seats out of 329-seat parliament in the elections held on Oct. 10, 2021, which is in contrast to the desire of the pro-Iranian Shiite parties, who want to form a consensus government to include all political blocs, as was the situation in the successive governments after 2003. ■
