Shafaq News/ Iraqi and international figures and bodies commended the powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's decision to ease the tension in Iraq after instructing his followers to withdraw from Baghdad's Green Zone.

"Thank you Muqtada al-Sadr," Iraq's parliament speaker Mohammad al-Halboosi tweeted, "your decision is in the size of Iraq. It deserves our appreciation."

A statement by media office of al-Siyada bloc said that the head of the Sunni alliance Khamis al-Khanjar held a phone call with al-Halboosi and the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Masoud Barzani, to discuss the situation in Iraq.

The leaders called for preserving the security and stability in the country and pursuing dialogue to lead Iraq to safety.

The head of al-Nasr bloc, Haidar al-Abadi, said, "all the armed people shall withdraw immediately. There is no explanation for the state to stand idly and watch, especially after the speech of Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr."

"The wisemen of Iraq shall find solutions to prevent abysmal infight, jeopardizing the lives of the people, and undermining the state," he said. 

"Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr proved he is a descendant of the Sadrist school that made sacrifices for its religion and people," the head of the Islamic Supreme Council, Homam al-Hammoudi, said in a statement. 

Al-Hammoudi ascribed al-Sadr's position as "brave and responsible." 

"There is no contrast between reform and state. They complete each others," he added, "hand by hand, the state is preserved and rectified by reform." 

UNAMI in a tweet welcomed "the most recent moderate declaration by Sayed Muqtada al-Sadr." 

"As stated yesterday: restraint and calm are necessary for reason to prevail," it said.