Qa'ani arrives in Baghdad heralding the concluding chapter of the government crisis

Shafaq News/ The commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds force, Esmail Qa'ani, urged the Coordination Framework to conserve the structure of the "Shiite home" and join the Sadrist movement's "majority government", a source revealed on Tuesday.

The source, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Shafaq News Agency, "the official in charge of the Iranian-Iraqi security file, Qa'ani, urged all the forces of the Shiite consortium to preserve the form and the content of the Shiite home and accede to the conditions of the Sadrist movement leader, Muqtada al-Sadr."

The commander of the Quds force called on the forces of Shiite Framework to redistribute their electoral weight under a single leadership.

"The Coordination Framework shall regroup under the name of al-Fatah alliance and pledge allegiance to revive the Shiite home under the leadership of al-Sadr and form a government," the source said.

"Qa'ani hinted at granting al-Maliki guarantees that he would not be held liable for the corruption files al-Sadr was brandishing in his face; instead, a scapegoat will be prosecuted. Those guarantees, among a set of others, will be worked out by the Iranian commander as soon as the Framework makes its mind up," the source continued, "Iran is not concerned about its interests in Iraq, as much as it is concerned about overcoming the crisis tampering with the nuclear talks."

"The Framework's meeting to be held today is expected to commensurate the Iranian commander's aspirations to finally drop the curtain on al-Sadr-Framework controversy and settle the issue of the government."

"The forces of the Coordination Framework will have a list of conditions to join al-Sadr's government. Most notably, al-Sadr shall grant them the Interior portfolio in addition to the ministerial entitlement of its blocs."

The leader of the Sadrist movement on Tuesday said that he would not share a cabinet with the head of the State of Law Coalition, Nouri al-Maliki.

Al-Sadr said in a televised interview, "I invited Hadi al-Ameri [head of al-Fatah (Conquest) alliance], Qais al-Khazali [the Secretary-General of the Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq movement], and Falih al-Fayyadh [the head of al-Aqd al-Watani (National Contract) bloc, to participate in the national majority government, without al-Maliki, but they refused."

"The forces of the Coordination Framework said that their visit with al-Hannana is contingent upon Al-Maliki's participation in the government. We said: as you wish."

"The national majority government is a demand of the political forces. The people are not satisfied with the former governments."

"The [Coordination] Framework rejected combating corruption at the moment. One of its leaders said it will make the prisons crowded."

"The Marja'iyah is disappointed with the politicians," he added, "some parties are sullying the good name of al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces-PMF). We want to organize it."

Qa'ani on Tuesday arrived in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on an unannounced visit to resume the talks over the formation of the Iraqi government amid an ongoing row between the Sadrist movement and the Coordination Framework.

Garnering the support of the leading Kurdish party (Kurdistan Democratic Party-KDP) and the two leading Sunni blocs (Takaddom and Azm), the bloc of the firebrand Shiite cleric -the biggest in the October 10 election- has been mobilizing impetus behind a "National Majority Government", challenging the status quo "consensus governments", which the forces of the Shiite Coordination Framework have been lobbying for.

al-Sadr has said he will ally himself with whoever puts Iraq's national interests first. That is an indication, Iraqi officials and Western diplomats say, that he may exclude some Iran-backed Shiite blocs in favor of parties with cross-sectarian support.

The Sadrist bloc emerged as the clear winner with 73 seats in the 329-seat parliament. Al-Takaddom party, one of two main Sunni political groups and led by the speaker of the outgoing parliament Mohammed al-Halboosi, followed with 37 seats. Former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law bloc came third with 33 seats.

The Iran-backed al-Fatah Alliance, won only 17 seats, compared with 45 in 2018.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) won 31 seats, while Kurdistan Alliance led by the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) won only 17 seats.